Kildare crash: Garda crackdown to target juvenile gangs driving on the wrong side of the road
Irish police are launching intelligence operations to target juvenile gangs involved in dangerous driving after a fatal motorway crash. The incident, which killed five teenagers and injured a family, has sparked concerns regarding the capacity of the country's youth detention facilities.
Why it matters
It highlights a growing public safety crisis involving youth crime and the systemic failure of juvenile detention infrastructure.
The scene of the crash on the M9 in Kildare. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Gardaí are expected to carry out “focused intelligence operations” to identify and target mainly juvenile gangs driving on the wrong side of the road.
It is one of a number of actions being progressed in light of multiple similar incidents, most recently the horrific collision on the M9 motorway , in which five masked teenagers were killed and four family members injured.
It comes as concerns are also being expressed at senior level at the lack of space in the country’s sole detention centre for children — Oberstown in north Dublin.
Garda sources have said that members of a notorious network of teenage criminals, the so-called Lucky Dip gang, continued to carry out crimes, including joyriding, because the detention centre was full and could not take the offenders.
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