Gardaí to be present at dealer’s funeral

GARDAÍ are expected to maintain a discreet presence at the funeral today of one of Cork’s leading drug dealers, murdered in a gangland style shooting at the weekend.

Eric Cummins’s funeral Mass, in his home area of the Lough, will be held as a major garda investigation continues into his death, the first gangland murder in Cork in more than four years.

Up to 40 gardaí, including a substantial number of detectives, have been assigned to the investigation, with an incident room set up at Gurranbraher Garda Station.

Investigators will be looking at the 31-year-old dealer’s associates in Limerick and his relationship with others involved in the narcotics trade in Cork city and county.

It is believed Cummins, who escaped assault and firearms charges following the shooting of a man in 2002, was a major retailer of cocaine to smaller dealers in the north of the county.

However, the professionalism of the hit - he was shot once in the chest and once in the head with a handgun - suggests someone outside of Cork may have been brought in to carry out the murder.

Cummins, originally from the Lough area of the city, had been living in a rented house in Ballincollig with his partner and 18-month-old son for around a year. He was fatally shot outside the house at 10pm on Saturday and died later in Cork University Hospital.

The killers escaped in a Honda car and one fitting its description was found burnt out in the Waterfall area on Sunday morning. It is hoped some evidence may be gleaned from the badly damaged vehicle.

Gardaí were present for last night’s removal of Cummins’s body from O’Sullivan’s funeral home in Turners Cross to the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the Lough.

He will be buried in St Michael’s Cemetery in Blackrock.