Fr Joe Young’s comments came following the revelation that children as young as 10 were being recruited by feuding gangs to carry drugs and guns.

A 15-year-old boy appeared before Limerick Children’s Court earlier this week for handling a loaded Magnum handgun.

Fr Young, chaplain at the Brothers of Charity in Bawnmor, who worked as a curate in Southill for 25 years, described these children as “spiritual orphans”. He said he was aware from continuing phone calls from former parishioners that gangs are holding children to ransom.

“Intimidation and fear are the main weapons being used and the children become like spiritual orphans. They don’t have positive role models. Many have been abandoned by their fathers and mothers who spend their time in the pub. The door is being left wide open and they are left to forage for themselves. They don’t know where they are going. We are losing another generation of kids. They are being abandoned by their own and the state. This is a violence of silence. It is unforgivable.”

Fr Young said state agencies must act and take action against parents who are so negligent.

“I think any parent who abandons a child has to pay a price. Hit their welfare. If they are not looking after their kids do not give them the support money that is supposed to be for child welfare. And they should also be brought before the courts.”

The ISPCC has also voiced its concern that children as young as 10 are falling prey to serious crime gangs, in order to help them move guns and drugs in Limerick.