Tensions in the Dublin inner-city area of Dolphin's Barn were high this weekend amid fears of a backlash on locals by drug dealers.

Four main drug dealers living in the Dolphin's Barn flats complex use a number of teenagers to sell their heroin and cocaine in the stairwell of the complex and around the area.

However, increased garda patrolling, which has the support of the majority of the local community, has curtailed drug-dealing in the last few months.

Two of the main dealers are behind up to 30 cars being badly damaged last weekend, and a bomb-scare threat outside a community centre in Dolphin's Barn a few days earlier. Last week, a woman was wounded when another woman attacked her using a key as a weapon, and this was also linked to the dispute over drug-dealing.

A local source said there is huge anger among the people whose cars were vandalised, and there is talk of retribution. "Some of the people whose cars they destroyed are not going to take this lying down. They know who these guys are and aren't afraid of them."

In 1999, semi-invalid heroin addict Dwyer (41) was beaten to death by an anti-drugs concerned parents mob in Dolphin's Barn.