Cunningham’s killers to be pursued ‘irrespective of his background’

THE killers of gangland shooting victim Paul Cunningham will be pursued with vigour by the gardaí, Justice Minister Michael McDowell pledged.

Mr McDowell described the murder as an act of “unspeakable cruelty” and indicated that Cunningham’s criminal activities and his association with other known criminals would not lessen the efforts of the investigation team.

“Whatever the background of the victim, just as there is nobody above the law, there is nobody who falls beneath the protection of the law,” he said.

But he added that anyone involved in drugs was dicing with death. “You are handing out death to young people through the drugs you peddle, you use death to enforce your share of the market and you use death to collect debts.”

The Minister was given details of the Cunningham case yesterday by Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy and Assistant Commissioner for Dublin Al McHugh as part of a briefing on Operation Crossover 2, the crackdown on gangland activities revived in west Dublin earlier this month.

Mr McDowell said the initiative had been responsible for the seizure of a very significant quantity of firearms, including sub-machine guns, and he had assurances from the Commissioner that it was adequately resourced to continue its work.

He pointed out that the three people arrested following a shooting incident at Dunsink Lane in west Dublin on Sunday afternoon were apprehended at an Operation Crossover 2 roadblock.

The Minister rejected suggestions that the resurgence in violence over the past week marked a return to form for criminal gangs and said the number of murders so far this year was way down on 2003.

He added that all the evidence was that gangs were being broken up and their strength was diminishing. “I believe this is the last sting of the dying wasp,” he said.

Paul Cunningham, aged 23, died after he was shot three times as he lay sleeping with his partner and 18-month-old child at their home at Dromheath Avenue, Mulhuddart, west Dublin in the early hours of Sunday morning.

His death is being linked with that of crime boss Declan Curran, aged 24, who died of a suspected heart attack in Cloverhill Prison a week earlier. Several attacks, including one fatal shooting, followed his death.

Gardaí stepped up armed patrols in west Dublin yesterday amid fears of further clashes. But local Labour TD Joan Burton said a “twin-tracked” policing approach was needed, with community gardaí filling as important a role as the armed patrols.