The causes and consequences of gangland violence in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

While the Republic of Ireland is a relatively peaceful country, with a homicide rate significantly lower than the global average, it has experienced a number of violent feuds between criminal gangs. This chapter will explore the consequences and causes of these gangland feuds. While gangland feuding is often identified as a form of systematic drug market violence, this chapter argues that the roots of feuding can be found in a historical context of colonialism combined with the contemporary decline in traditional working-class jobs, at a time of increased pressure to exhibit the trappings of the financial success of the family. It is argued that feuding is concentrated in small pockets of economically disadvantaged urban areas where alternative sources of income are, or were, scarce and violent subcultures have emerged. The second half of the chapter identifies some of the significant psychological, physical and social harms which have inflicted family members involved in the feuds, local communities and the Republic of Ireland itself. It has been suggested that the long-term impact of these feuds may be felt when children who are raised in these contexts, experience multiple forms of trauma, and grow into adults themselves in the absence of pro-social supports.