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A young man from Limerick has been jailed for six years for drugs and firearms offences related to an ongoing gang feud.
Shane Blackhall (21) of Mungret Court, Watergate Flats, Limerick, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, cannabis and diamorphine for sale or supply at Mungret Court on June 10th, 2025.
Blackhall was also the driver of a vehicle from which shots were discharged on Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, which is the address of a number of individuals linked to the Collins family criminal gang.
He has 26 previous convictions, with the court hearing that he started to use drugs between the ages of 11 and 12.
He also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm from which reasonable inference could be drawn that he did not have it for a lawful purpose, contrary to Section 27 1a and Section 2 of the Firearms Act.
On the 13th July 2026, Sergeant Eoin McDonagh gave evidence of a report of a firearm being discharged on Hyde Avenue at 6:34 pm on the 6th of January 2025.
This was part of a feud between “rival factions” of the Collins criminal gang which was ongoing between January and June 2025.
Gardaà also received a report of a vehicle crashing into a lamppost on Ashbourne Avenue from which two men wearing balaclavas were seen running.
The court heard that the collision took place close to Mary Immaculate College and that the Volkswagen Scirocco involved sustained significant damage. When Garda arrived on the scene to confiscate the vehicle, they noticed shell casings in the rear.Â
A search of Hyde Avenue also recovered shell casings, and damage consistent with a bullet hitting a building in the area was also observed.
Swabs from the airbags placed Blackhall as the driver of the vehicle, and from CCTV, Gardaà put together a sequence of events which showed “flashes” emanating from the passenger side of the vehicles which were consistent with shots being fired before the car was captured speeding away.Â
The court heard that the gun used was a Glock pattern semi-automatic pistol.Â
When Gardaà searched the home Blackhall shared with his mother at Mungret Court, Watergate Flats, Limerick, they discovered cocaine worth €1,700, cannabis worth €26,000, and a diamorphine that “no effort” had been made to conceal.
A log of sales was also found in the notes app on his phone.
The accused told Gardaà that he was holding the drugs on behalf of others in an effort to reduce his own debt.
The Special Criminal Court set a headline sentence of 13 years before mitigation, which was reduced to six years for the firearms offence and two years for the drugs offence.
The panel of judges said that the accused “comes from a decent family” and got involved in criminal wrongdoing after the death of his stepfather in his youth.
The judges said that the most significant mitigation was the early guilty plea, which entitled the accused to a 20% discount on his sentence. He is also engaging well with rehabilitation services.Â
From the consecutive sentence which amounted to eight years, the court suspended the final two years for a period of three years on condition that the accused be of good behaviour and obey any lawful instruction of the Probation Services for that period.
The sentence was backdated to the 10th of June 2025 to give credit for time spent in custody.
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