Brother of murdered dissident shot dead

Gardaí in Dublin are again on high alert after a brother of a murdered dissident republican leader died last night following a gun attack.

Vincent Ryan was shot at least three times in the chest and neck on McKee Rd in Finglas around 3pm yesterday. It is understood he had just dropped off his partner and her child at her home.

He was in the driver’s seat of his car, a white VW Golf, when a silver/grey VW Golf pulled up beside him and a gunman opened fire, hitting him at least three times.

Senior gardaí do not believe there is a connection with the Kinahan-Hutch feud which saw two men shot dead within four days in Dublin early last month.

Officers suspect the shooting is linked either to a simmering feud between dissidents and rival criminal gangs or an internal row within dissident groupings.

The 25-year-old was brought to the Mater Hospital, but

were unable to save his life.

The victim, a known dissident, was a brother of murdered Real IRA leader Alan Ryan. The 32-year-old from Donaghmede, north Dublin, was gunned down in Clongriffin in September 2012.

Gardaí believe Ryan’s murder was ordered by two of north Dublin’s biggest drug traffickers after a long-running feud.

Ryan had been trying to extort criminal gangs, particularly on the northside, for a cut of their profits from drug dealing and conducted attacks on those who refused.

There have been a number of violent incidents since Ryan’s death, including on his associates.

Criminal ‘godfather’ Eamon Kelly, 65, was shot dead in Killester, north Dublin, by a south Dublin Real IRA faction in December 2012.

Real IRA man and Ryan associate Declan Smith, 31, was murdered outside a creche in Donaghmede, north Dublin, in March 2014, in what may have been an internal Real IRA attack.

Yesterday’s victim had been targeted before, including last October, when he was slashed across the face in Dublin city centre.

Detectives were investigating if that attack was carried out by dissidents.

He was previously charged in relation to possession of a firearm, but was cleared by the non-jury Special Criminal Court.

Superintendent John Quirke of Finglas Garda Station last night appealed to people who saw the silver/grey VW Golf before or after the shooting to contact them.

He said it was a five-door with alloy wheels. It drove at speed towards Clune Rd and Jamestown Rd.

A car, which may have been the getaway vehicle, was found burnt out in the Victoria Bridge area on the Naas to Rathangan Rd.