Published: Wednesday, 30th June, 2010 5:00pm

Time to reclaim the town from the thugs

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For years, if asked where you were from, and you replied "Mullingar", there were two reactions you were likely to get - either "Ah. Joe Dolan"; or "Mullingar - Go Slow", a reference to a roadsign erected on the Dublin approach to Mullingar many years ago.

It's just short of two years since Mullingar hit the headlines with the "riot" at D'Alton Park, and in the 22 months since then, the image of this town has been destroyed, thanks to the mindless tit-for-tat feuding between family-based factions who appear to be beyond reason. Now, it's not Joe Dolan that people mention: there's an altogether different reaction - most often a sympathetic raising of the eyebrows, or a face scrunched into a grimace.

For those of us who live in Mullingar, this doesn't feel fair. We've known - and know - this town as a pleasant, friendly, good place to live. Last week's lead story in this newspaper stated that the town's reputation is now in tatters - and on our website, a number of people have agreed. In fact, one man says that his Dublin work colleagues refer to the town as "Tallaght-by-the-Bog", and "Knackergar".

It may come as a shock to some people to know that in this town, there are houses where the windows and doors are covered in fine-mesh iron cages. In some estates, there are rows where a number of houses are similarly caged.

That way, there is no way for the houses to have objects thrown through their windows; no way for assailants to force in a door.

As all locals know, the feuding is going on in fewer than a handful of locations - mainly around Grange and D'Alton Park, with some lesser spats at the homes of connected parties living in private estates around the town.

Working out who is who in this particular gang warfare would take a genealogist: many on opposite sides are actually related; many share the same names. Innocent non-involved people from the main families involved are worried that their very name, makes them fair game in the feuding.

Worryingly, there are indications that the feuding is getting worse.

No-one is sure what the root cause is. Various alleged reasons are given, but there are those who know the parties involved, and those on the fringes, who are strongly of the belief that whatever original grievances there may have been, the main problem now centres on drugs.

One source told the Westmeath Examiner this week that weapons are being stockpiled: we live in dread of what's yet to come, as we know from past experience that these fighting factions can do with the "weapons" they find to hand: rocks, garden tools, sporting paraphernalia. Anything that can inflict damage is likely to be put into action; and of course, there have been incidents of arson. Residents in Grange and D'Alton Park who aren't involved in any way with the tension, are living a nightmare - and as, predominantly, tenants in rented Council accommodation, aren't in a position to get themselves and their families away from the terror.

The troubling thing is there seems no resolution to this. Mediation was attempted in the wake of the D'Alton Park riot, but it didn't hold.

Among the public, trying to get on with their lives, embarrassed at the image that the town is earning, and powerless to do anything about it, there is puzzlement over why no-one was jailed after the D'Alton Park riot. At the Circuit Court in February, all 65 defendants before the court received suspended sentences.

What most people feel is that what is happening is a shameful disgrace. Mullingar is a good town; a town that works well together; a town that has welcomed huge numbers of people from across the world during the boom times; a town that is proud of its place, its name, its people, and its heritage. But all that counts for nothing in the world of instant news, when a brick thrown in an estate becomes the news of the day from a town that has so much more going on. A town of 18,000 people is having its image shaped by - in relative terms - small bands of thugs.

Local authorities have the power to evict people from rented local authority housing who are guilty of anti-social behaviour. It's time there was more consultation between the Council and the Gardaí so some measures can be put in place to mean those who are making life hell for others can be removed from the area. If the courts aren't prepared to come down strongly, then maybe this would act as a deterrent.

One of the most aggravating pieces of footage that have gone out from Mullingar since this whole debacle began was the legendary interview outside Mullingar courthouse, in which one man told an RTE reporter with a brazen smile on his face, "We own Mullingar".

It's time that the law is used to give the town back to the people who really own it: those who live here and work and give to their communities, and who want nothing more than to enjoy life in a way that doesn't harm or upset others, and to bring their families up in a safe and healthy environment, where they can grow to be mature and responsible citizens.