Ryan brothers turn up safe and well in Portlaoise

The two brothers who were abducted at gunpoint in Limerick city last Thursday night have turned up safe and well in Co Laois.

Twenty-year-old Eddie Ryan Jnr and his 19-year-old brother Kieran walked into Portlaoise Garda Station after their abductors left them on the Abbeyleix road shortly before 3am.

The pair had no visible signs of injury and have now been reunited with their mother, who said earlier this week that she believed her sons were dead.

The Ryan brothers hadn't been seen since being bundled into a car in the Ballynanty area of Limerick by two armed men last Thursday.

Gardai said the abduction was linked to a long-running family feud which also claimed the life of the boys' father, Eddie Ryan Snr.

Mr Ryan was shot dead in a pub in Limerick two years ago.

Meanwhile, a 42-year-old man was shot dead in Limerick last night in an execution-style killing that Gardai have also linked to the bitter feud.

Another man was also seriously injured in the shooting, which took place at around 9.30pm.

The victim was found slumped on the side of the road near the village of Drombanna with a number of gunshot wounds to his head.

The injured man is in a critical condition in hospital.

It is unclear if the subsequent release of the Ryan brothers was linked to the shooting.

They were later on their way back to Limerick after being reunited with their mother Mary, who travelled to Portlaoise to meet her sons.

The brothers and their mother left the garda station a short time later and were taken to their mother's home.

Local priest Michael O'Shea said he saw Eddie and Kieran being reunited with their mother.

“They are back safely to their family and there is so much excitement in the house now,” he told Irish radio.

Father O’Shea described Mary Ryan as a “delighted woman“.

“I was trying to keep that flicker of hope still alive even though it probably was running out with the days going by,” he said.

“But thank God we were praying all the time, praying in the churches and the parish, so thank God they are back.”

He said he spoke to the men and that they appeared thin but healthy.