I won’t be driven from my home, vows mother

THE mother of returned Limerick brothers Kieran and Eddie Ryan vowed yesterday she will never leave her Kileely home.

Mary Ryan said no amount of fear will drive her from the house on Hogan Avenue despite fears of reprisals in a bitter family feud.

“I will never leave. This is my home. I will never ever leave,” she said.

Mrs Ryan said she is living in constant fear of other feuding gangs but she won’t flee the family home.

The widow, whose husband Eddie was gunned down in the Moose Bar in 2000, revealed she was upset by the descriptions of her sons in some Sunday newspapers.

Close to tears she insisted her sons were good men who don’t want any trouble.

The pair turned up in Portlaoise in the early hours of last Thursday morning after being abducted in Ballynanty a week earlier.

Armed detectives are continuing to patrol flash points in the city as the feud shows no sign of easing.

The garda Emergency Response Unit are set to remain in Limerick for several more weeks.

The home of a relative of the Ryans was petrol-bombed on the Lee Estate on Sunday night heightening fears of further attacks.

The house is owned by a sister- in-law of John Ryan, uncle of the returned Ryan brothers. He said last week he doesn’t want any more violence. Mr Ryan said he’s willing to “call it quits” if the other factions in the feud do the same.

Already Mr Ryan is understood to have left his heavily-fortified home on the Lee Estate, which has been attacked 30 times in recent years.

Further arrests are expected this week in the Kieran Keane murder investigation. Mr Keane, 36, was shot on Wednesday night at Drombanna, four miles outside Limerick city. The post-mortem on Mr Keane showed he died from a single gunshot to the head.

Mr Keane’s nephew Owen Treacy, 30, who was stabbed seven times in the same attack, might be able to attend his uncle’s funeral, sources said yesterday. But Mr Keane’s brother, Christy won’t be allowed leave prison for Thursday’s funeral. Mr Keane, 42, is serving a 10-year sentence at Portlaoise prison for drugs offences.

It was thought he would be allowed out under armed guard, but prison authorities confirmed last night he won’t be attending.

Kieran Keane’s remains will leave Cross’s funeral home tomorrow eveningOK and the requiem mass will take place at St John’s Cathedral the following day.