Gangsters blamed for ‘malicious’ blaze at pub

INVESTIGATORS in Limerick now believe the fire which gutted Brannigans pub in Mulgrave Street was malicious.

A southside feud gang in the city are the main suspects.

The bar owner and his family have been under round-the-clock armed garda protection since threats were made to the bar owner and his business during the trial of Wayne Dundon.

Violent criminal Dundon, 26, got ten years last month for threatening to kill a barman at the pub after his underage sister was refused entry last December.

The barman was shot by a gunman in the crowded bar shortly after Dundon made the threat.

Chief Superintendent Willie Keane said yesterday: “It is very sinister. We will have to await our forensic results before we can make any more elaborate comment on it. But it looks as though it was malicious.”

Wayne Dundon was jailed for a maximum ten years at Limerick Circuit Court after he was found guilty of threatening to kill barman Ryan Lee, 19.

The first jury sworn in to try the case was discharged when one jury member told the court a relative got a phone call saying they knew that he was on the jury.

After a second jury was sworn in, the pub owner, Steve Collins, received a letter threatening him, his staff and the business.

The letter contained the message: “Look at all the other people that’s dead.”

Brannigans pub was extensively damaged early on Thursday, June 16.

Four units of Limerick fire brigade fought the blaze after the alarm was raised at around 4am.

When interviewed on RTÉ’s Prime Time after the Dundon trial, Mr Collins vowed that he would not be run out of Limerick.