free photo upload. Gardai have applied for an exclusion order to keep mob boss ‘Fat’ John McCarthy’s son out of Moyross, claiming he is recruiting children into the drugs trade.

It is alleged that David McCarthy (20), from Cliona Park, has been involved in shootings, stabbings, intimidation, coercion, and damage to property in the Limerick east area.

Last week, Limerick City Council tenancy enforcement officer Patrick McDermott told the District court that McCarthy jnr had been the subject of a litany of complaints.

He said between January 2013 and May 2014, Limerick City Council received 10 separate complaints from more than 20 people relating to incidents of criminal and anti-social behaviour across the estate.

The allegations against David McCarthy include arson, threatening and intimidating residents, shots fired at a number of houses – which were linked to an ongoing feud in the area – as well as forcing young children to sell drugs.

Despite being barely out of his teens, McCarthy jnr is regarded as a dangerous criminal and has already served three years in prison for weapons offences.

During his time behind bars, he appeared in an infamous photograph in the Midlands Prison where a group of Limerick criminals – including killer Noel ‘Frog Eyes’ Stanners – got drunk on jailhouse hooch.

He is the son of ‘Fat’ John McCarthy, who is regarded as Limerick’s biggest drug dealer and who is currently serving 14 years in prison for heroin trafficking.

In court last week McDermott also said that in the most recent alleged offence on May 2, McCarthy jnr and others tried to destroy CCTV cameras which were only erected two weeks ago.

Mr McDermott said there was also an allegation that McCarthy was involved in a serious assault in which two people were stabbed.

A parent had complained to the council that her son had been forced into carrying a knife because of an alleged threat made to him.

It was alleged that, on a number of occasions, McCarthy drove a motorbike at speed through green open areas in the estate.

Mr McDermott said many residents who had made complaints to the council were afraid they would be subjected to violence if their names leaked out.

The court was told that proceedings for the exclusion order against McCarthy jnr began in September 2013, when the council wrote to his mother, who owns the house.

However, during the application, Judge Eugene O’Kelly remarked that one of the incidents outlined in the case is subject to criminal proceedings in the coming weeks in Limerick District Court.

He said in the interests of fairness and fair procedures it would be better to deal with the criminal matter first.

Judge O’Kelly adjourned the application until June 6.

Last April, David McCarthy and his pal Kurt Ryan were allegedly key players in a night of rioting – described by one community activist as the “worst in Moyross’s history”.

During the violence, more than 12 balaclava-clad thugs on horses attacked gardai, smashed up cars, thrashed a local school and vandalised a church.

The masked men also, bizarrely, drove a herd of cows and a number of pigs through the Pineview area of Moyross.

The gang also caused thousands of euros of damage to nearby St Nessan’s Community College, where more windows were smashed and a door was broken.

Garda chiefs were forced to draft in members of the Emergency Response Unit in a bid to quell the disturbances after unarmed officers came under attack.