FOUR HOMES WERE damaged overnight in Ballymun in an incident which has been described by a local councillor as “shocking but not surprising”.

Gardaí responded to reports of criminal damage in Ballymun, Co Dublin, shortly after midnight.

Criminal damage was caused to four properties, with no injuries reported.

A technical examination of the scene has been conducted and a garda spokesperson said investigations are ongoing.

Local councillors Conor Reddy and Keith Connolly both told The Journal that it is their understanding that a grenade had exploded.

Both also noted that this is not “isolated” and pointed to a recent incident in which an 11-year-old boy picked up a discarded gun and fired a shot.

“We’ve had attacks on homes, fire bombings, shots being fired at houses, shots being fired at people in broad daylight, violent attacks on people,” said Reddy.

“It is shocking, but it’s not surprising, and there has been a clear path of escalation in a couple of the drug-related feuds in the area over the last few weeks and the response just hasn’t been strong enough.”

While Reddy said he hasn’t “heard specifics” in relation to the criminal damage overnight, he is “deducing” that it is connected to a feud.

Fianna Fáil’s Keith Connolly also pointed to an “ongoing feud in the area” and said he had “no doubt it’s probably part of that”.

Reddy told The Journal that while the response has been “better since the gun was found, there’s much deeper intervention needed to break people away from the cycles of violence and crime.”

He said that in the immediate term, there should be a “better guarantee of safety”.

“It wouldn’t usually be my ideological preference, but I think we need to see a stronger response from the guards,” said Reddy.

“There has to be a stronger visible presence around hot spots for this stuff, and they do exist, there are hot spots around certain shops and other places.

“We need to see action on some of the names that are out there that people know.”

Meanwhile, Connolly said there is a high number of garda resources now in the area and added: “We hope that would certainly deter some of them, but this feud has been going on for some time now and it really needs to stop.”

Connolly called on those involved to “think of the community and the repercussions for their area”.

He called on anyone with information about last night’s incident to contact gardaí “because the more information they have, the easier it is to prosecute and to deal with these perpetrators”.

Elsewhere, Reddy remarked that the “longer-term solution is to break the cycles of generational disadvantage, the normalisation of violence – things that have been recommended over and over again”.

“We need to see those types of responses funded,” said Reddy.

Reddy added that there are good examples in the local community of groups who work with families “who are generationally involved in crime and anti-social behaviour to break those cycles”.

“It’s intensive family support work and social work,” said Reddy.

“People can get caught up in criminalisation, re-criminalisation, disadvantage, and you can’t keep repeating the same thing, which is to ignore those families and expect a different result.”