Gang killers ‘aren’t untouchable’

THE conviction of a hitman for a gangland murder this week sent out a clear message to criminals that they were not untouchable, the Minister for Justice said yesterday.

Michael McDowell also said the gardaí were succeeding in the fight against gangland crime.

He was responding to the murder of two men in a gangland feud on Sunday and the conviction on Monday of a man for the execution of Limerick doorman Brian Fitzgerald in November, 2002.

“When Brian Fitzgerald, the door attendant, was shot, a lot of people thought this was a professional assassination and that his assassin would never be brought to justice.

“Yesterday, we found that gardaí did get their man, so people who feel they are above the law and can’t be got should think twice.”

Mr McDowell was speaking following a briefing with Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy in relation to both Sunday’s murders and gun crime in general.

He said he was not briefed “along the lines” that paramilitaries were involved in Sunday’s double shooting, as claimed in some media reports.

The families of the two victims, Darren Geoghegan and Gavin Byrne, were only able to identify the men late on Monday night. The men had been both shot in the head while they sat in a car at Firhouse in Dublin.

Garda tests continued yesterday on firearms recovered in a burnt-out car used by the killers.

Gardaí continued house-to-house inquiries in the area yesterday to see if anyone saw anything suspicious on the Sunday night or beforehand.

The murders brought to six the number of deaths attributed to a vicious feud between gangs in the Drimnagh and Crumlin areas of south west Dublin.

Geoghegan, 26, from Lissadell Drive, Drimnagh, was believed to have been a senior member of one of the gangs involved. Byrne, 30, from Windmill Park, Crumlin, was regarded as a small-time thief.

Mr McDowell said Operation Anvil, set up last May to combat gun crime, had been very successful, resulting in the seizure of 200 firearms.

“The events of the night before last may seem discouraging, but they are not really. In the long term you have to look at where the gardaí’s activities are bringing us - they are, in my view, succeeding.”

Mr McDowell also indicated that there would be additional resources for the gardaí in tomorrow’s Budget estimates.