Gardaí expect funeral ‘show’ by Real IRA

Gardaí are expecting the Real IRA to “put on a show” at the funeral of murdered dissident Vincent Ryan.

Sources told the Irish Examiner that the 25-year-old had “never been kicked out” of the terror group, despite some suggestions that he had been.

Officers now fear that there will be retaliation against members of two criminal networks suspected of killing Mr Ryan on Monday last.

The bosses of these gangs are thought to have been behind the 2012 murder of then Real IRA Dublin leader Alan Ryan Vincent’s brother.

Sources said that while the dissident group was “not as strong” in Dublin as they had been in the recent past, they were “a threat”.

The Special Detective Unit which is tasked with combating terrorism is monitoring the 20-plus core members of the Real IRA in Dublin.

They will also keep track of senior members of the Real IRA from the North who are likely to travel down for the funeral which will take place next Tuesday.

Vincent Ryan, from Donaghmede, north Dublin, a father of a newborn girl, was shot as he sat in his car on McKee Road in Finglas, on Monday afternoon.

He had just dropped off his girlfriend and their baby when another car approached and a gunman opened fire, hitting him repeatedly in the chest and neck.

Garda sources have said the main suspect for the murder is one of the crime bosses behind Alan Ryan’s murder in September 2012.

This figure is currently in prison and gardaí are going through logs of who visited him in recent months in the two jails he has been in.

They will do the same for anyone he had been associating with and will check any mobile phone traffic linked to him and associates.

The murder of Alan Ryan sparked a retaliatory attack on veteran criminal Eamon Kelly in Killester, north Dublin, in December 2012 by a south city Real IRA unit.

Senior gardaí fear this could happen again.

“We do have concerns of retaliation,” said one source. “They [Real IRA] are not as strong as they have been, but they are a threat.”

Following Alan Ryan’s murder there was significant reorganisation of the grouping in Dublin.

A number of people, including several associates of Alan and Vincent Ryan, were subjected to punishment attacks and thrown out.

Sources said Vincent was “never kicked out”. Garda sources said they expect the Real IRA “to put on a show” at the funeral.

However, gardaí want to ensure there is no repeat of the scenes at Alan Ryan’s funeral, when shots were fired over his coffin.

Gardaí have asked people who saw the silver VW Golf used in Monday’s attack (reg 07 KE 10213) between October 13 and February 29 to contact them.

It was stolen on October 13 from Cluaindara, Derrinstown, Co Kildare, and found burnt out at Red Lane, Newhall, Naas, Co Kildare on February 29.