Murder weapons seized - Well done

THE murder of David Byrne, a 33-year-old father-of-one, in a Dublin hotel was one of the most audacious attacks on an individual in recent Irish history.

Though Byrne’s murder was part of a turf war between drug gangs, the quartermasters who supplied the AK47 semi-automatic rifles for the attack were Co Donegal dissident republicans operating in that grey area between criminality and terrorism.

Tragically, they imagine themselves today’s embodiment of the armed republican struggle that has afflicted this island for generations.

Gardaí have seized three AK47s and the weapons are believed to be those used in the Regency Hotel attack. This is very welcome news on two fronts.

It weakens the dangerous fantasists and criminals who style themselves dissident republicans and it shows that our gardaí, when given the resources, are more than a match for the challenge they represent.

However most of all, it once again shows these refusenik republicians up for what they really are — thugs hand-in-glove with the drug gangs who care nothing for this country.