Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch returns as Vincent Ryan buried
Gardaí mounted a security operation at his home in leafy Clontarf, north Dublin, after he flew in on Friday.
Sources said the head of the Hutch family — who has a death threat from the Kinahan crime cartel hanging over him — came back to attend a christening.
It is understood the ceremony took place in Finglas, on Dublin’s northside.
Finglas was the site of the gangland murder of dissident republican Vincent Ryan last Monday week.
His funeral takes place in Donaghmede, north Dublin, this morning.
Gardaí do not believe there is any connection between Ryan’s murder and the Hutch-Kinahan feud.
Gardaí organised uniformed and armed patrols at the Monk’s home once they learned of his arrival at Dublin Airport.
He is the brother of Edward Hutch, who was shot dead at his home in Dublin’s north inner city on February 8.
The murder was retaliation for the shooting dead of Kinahan gangster David Byrne, from Crumlin, south Dublin, at the Regency Hotel on February 4.
The main target, Daniel Kinahan, the elder son of crime boss Christopher Kinahan, escaped.
A massive Garda operation, including checkpoints, armed patrols and the Garda helicopter, was set up covering both the north inner city and the Crumlin-Drimnagh-south inner-city area.
That operation has been gradually scaled down over the weeks.
“They have all been reduced, but you can’t keep them up, not at that level,” said one garda source.
Meanwhile, a policing plan is in place today for the funeral of 25-year-old Vincent Ryan, a member of the Real IRA in Dublin.
The family issued a statement at the weekend saying that the father of a newborn girl would “not receive a military funeral”.
This is unlike the funeral of Vincent’s brother, Alan Ryan, shot dead in September 2012 at the hands of the same crime bosses suspected of ordering Vincent Ryan’s murder.
Alan Ryan, then leader of the Dublin Real IRA, received an overt paramilitary funeral, with shots fired over his coffin.
In the statement, brother Dermot said Vincent Ryan was a “staunch and honourable republican” who, after his release from prison, “did not report back to the IRA”.
He said Vincent Ryan had “stepped aside from involvement in republican activity” to build his barber business and create a family life.
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