In shocking footage that has been widely shared online, a number of young women are seen fighting and pulling each other along the ground by the hair.

A man intervenes to stop one fight after one girl is kicked several times in the head, but the fighting continues on the other side of the street.

Other onlookers watch as the women scream abuse and hit each other before the footage ends.

An exasperated Aontú representative, Eric Nelligan, said he had been “raising this issue for the last three years”.

He tweeted: “Violence on our city streets is far too common, especially late at night in Limerick. I wrote to the Gardaí in Nov 2021 seeking the establishment of a late night operation with increased Garda presence to act as a deterrent.

Chief super at the time, Brian Sugure, replied and assured me that increased police activity being implemented. So many Parents are worried for their child’s safety on nights out. “

“That part of Limerick, at night time, where all the nightclubs and pubs are, is where all the violence happens,” he told sundayworld.com.

“I’ve been trying to get the guards to do something about it because we’ve had a number of incidents here. I don’t want to destroy the name of the city, it’s too easy to hit Limerick, but I feel like we have to do something”

Mr Nelligan argued that some Garda patrols “a couple of hours on three nights a week of that area” would make a big difference.

“It’s not like Dublin, a massive city that is spread out all over the place,” he explained. “Limerick is small and it is in this area where all the pubs and clubs are.

“It’s called the Milk Market and it would be the equivalent of Dublin’s Temple Bar but smaller.

“During the day, it’s lovely, there are nice places to eat and stalls and all that kind of stuff. At night then, that’s where all the pubs and clubs and nightclubs are congregated together and fast food places and taxis.

“That’s where younger people hang out and that’s where the violence is, where the fights happen.

“And it’s only really between 1.30 and 3.30am on Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights. It’s not a lot of Garda man hours (to patrol) and you’d cut down by half the violence in the city at night time.

“It’s not a nightly occurrence and it is random, but it is regular enough that something needs to be done,” Mr Nelligan stressed. “There’s not (the same level) of violence around the city centre , t’s just there were the violence is going to happen.”

Mr Nelligan added: “It is my opinion that the Government is focused on the wrong issues and not law and order. There is this perception out there that the people who are engaged in this type behaviour get away with it. And that’s what people are angry about.”