‘Real IRA man shot in clean-up operation’

Gardaí suspect the leaders of a terrorist alliance are behind a gun attack on a dissident as he dropped a child off at a creche in north Dublin. Parents looked on as a gunman shot Declan Smith in the head during rush hour on Holywell Avenue in Donaghmede.

The 32-year-old was shot by a lone gunman just metres from the Little Rainbow’s Creche at 9am. He was treated by paramedics before being taken to Beaumont Hospital, where he is in a critical condition.

Detectives will investigate if he was targeted by criminals, but suspect the shooting is part of a bloody “clean-up operation” of the Real IRA in Dublin.