Alan Ryan, The IRA, explosive device Dublin
A major Garda and Army security
operation is under way in north Dublin this afternoon after two suspect
explosive devices were found near the grave of former Real IRA leader Alan
Ryan.
The incident is regarded as
the latest attack in the escalation of a feud between dissidents in Dublin and
the gangland criminals believed to be behind the murder of Ryan last year.
A shooting in Dublin’s north
inner city yesterday is also being linked to the feud.
The cemetery at Balgriffin,
north Dublin, where Ryan is buried was sealed off this afternoon and the Garda
had requested the assistance of the Army’s bomb disposal teams.
The discovery of the two
explosive devices comes just three days after a major one-year anniversary
commemoration was held at the grave of 32-year-old Ryan. He was shot dead at
Grange Lodge Avenue in Clongriffin, north Dublin, on September 3rd last year.
At Saturday’s event, several
hundred people, including a colour guard with paramilitary trappings, were met
with a very significant Garda presence in a bid to prevent the scenes witnessed
at Ryan’s funeral 12 months ago.
On that occasion, shots were
fired over his coffin and masked colour guard in full paramilitary style attire
was present.
While Saturday’s event
passed off peacefully, Ryan’s headstone had been vandalised the night before,
when the words “rat scum” were spray painted onto it.
Gardai believe the spray
painting incident at the weekend was carried out at the behest of drugs gang
leaders who wanted to embarrass Ryan’s associates and the dissident movement in
Dublin generally at an event where they would be closely watched by the public
and media.
The graffiti was cleaned off
before the crowds gathered at the graveside on Saturday and the event passed
off peacefully.
However, gardai believe
Ryan’s associates were behind a shooting incident in Dublin’s north inner city
yesterday, during which a number of shots were fired at a house. There were no
injuries.
Detectives believe the
shooting was a retaliatory attack for Saturday’s vandalism and that today’s
discovery of the suspect explosive devices was retaliation for yesterday’s
shooting.
Gardai believe Ryan and his
Real IRA associates were extorting money from the biggest drugs in Dublin in
the years before his death. A gun feud had begun between the Real IRA in Dublin
and the gangs, and Ryan’s murder was part of that feud.
While the feud between the
gangs and dissidents has simmered since Ryan’s murder, it has not resulted in
the extreme violence that was feared. However, gardai believe the events of the
past few days underline that tensions are at elevated levels at present.
Ryan’s associates have
continued the extortion demands on the gangs since last year’s murder of their
leader and the dissident republican movement has been beset with divisions.
Some of Ryan’s former
associates have been subjected to punishment beatings and shootings since his
death. A new dissident alliance called the New IRA has emerged in the past 12
months.
