Dublin's 'child soldiers'

Popular image of 'child soldiers' on Dublin's Kildare Street
during a Palestinian support rally against Israel (2008)

DUBLIN's 'child soldiers' look nothing like Africa's 'Lord's Resistance Army' or Palestine's Hamas' 'boy toy soldiers'.

The capital's teenage killers and shooters exist in a parallel universe where the 'laws of the urban jungle' excite juvenile sensibilities.

Slights, grudges and revenge murders preoccupy streetwise 'hoodies' who leave school without qualifications but whose criminal credentials are well honed by their mid-teens.

Dublin's 'north inner city' is where this urban 'army' execute and undertake their criminal activities.

Located somewhere north of the river Liffey, but without a specific geographic location, it is a term used by media types to define and delimit the area where urban 'gougers' menace their neighbours without fear or conviction.

Stepping on the toes of the city's urban 'gangsta skool boyz' can seriously endanger the health of those who are engaged as active citizens.

Breaking up an organised street fight involving a third year uniformed schoolboy would appear sensible and perceived as the action of the 'reasonable man' until the ugly 'nitty gritty' of such clashes is known.

Having videotaped the street fight between 'scholars' and passing the tape onto the school, the following advice was given by a concerned teacher.

He advised that the uniformed schoolboy's half brother is a 25-year-old career criminal facing a murder charge for the killing of a convicted drug dealing rapist at the North Circular Road, 2010. The accused is a former pupil of the school but did not sit any formal examinations and drifted into criminal activity as a juvenile.

Clearwater murder crime scene

One of the fight's spectator's relatives had been murdered at the Clearwater petrol station in Finglas, during November 2010. Security commentators suggest dissident republicans wrongly targeted two cousins that night, aged 19 and 23, in a case of mistaken identity after attaching a tracking device to the cousins' car.

Ireland's Celtic Tiger has come and gone but has spawned, as its legacy, a monstrous army of natural born killers in the constituency of the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD.

Six fatalities in Cork plane crash

SIX fatalities at Cork airport as Belfast plane crash landed during fog Thursday morning.

Manx2 airline's turboprop aircraft smashed into the ground next to runway 17 on its third attempt and flipped over on its roof, busting into flames.

The cockpit and front half of the Metroliner SW4 aircraft were destroyed on impact and early indications suggest that's where the fatalities occurred.

Airport fire tenders rapidly extinguished the fire engulfing the airframe's engines and spared trapped passengers further injury.

Six passengers have been ferried by ambulance to Cork University hospital, four with severe but non life threatening injuries. Two passengers seated to the rear of the aircraft walked away from the fatal crash with soft tissue injuries only.

The scheduled service, flight NM7100, departed George Best Belfast City airport at 8.10am and was due to land at 9am.

The 19 seater aircraft circled the airport for 45 minutes and crashed on its third attempt to land during poor visibility.

Flightline BCN, a Spanish company, operated the service on behalf of Manx2 whose primary hub is located at the Isle of Man's Ronaldsway airport.

The Irish Department of Transport's air accident investigation branch has launched an inquiry into the circumstances of this morning's crash.

Cork Airport flight chaos following fatal plane crash

Cork Airport remains closed until 18.00hrs with all inbound flights diverted to Shannon.