Prominent dissident republican expected to survive gun attack

The prominent dissident republican who was shot in the face with a shotgun outside a creche in Dublin yesterday morning is expected to survive the attack.

The shooting occurred when the 31-year-old man, who is originally from Belfast but has been living in Coolock in recent years, was approached by a lone gunman at 9.30am on Holywell Avenue in Donaghmede, after dropping his child off at the creche. A senior Garda source last night said while the man’s injuries were serious, he is expected to survive. He suffered “significant injuries to his face” however.

The man is a prominent dissident republican with close ties to the leadership of the Real IRA. He has minor convictions and is well known to authorities on both sides of the Border. The source described him as having been a “close associate” of former Real IRA Dublin chief Alan Ryan before he was gunned down near his home in Clongriffin in September 2012.

Control
After Ryan's death, yesterday's victim is believed to have attempted to take charge of the Real IRA's activities in the capital – but this endeavour failed. "He wouldn't have the following or the leadership qualities to take control," said the source.

Last year, the man was the victim of a “punishment shooting” in Saggart by members of his own group. He suffered gunshot wounds to the legs. The source attributed this incident to “an internal convulsion” in the Dublin faction of the Real IRA that followed Ryan’s murder.

“The Ryan faction was being purged for alleged misappropriation of racketeering,” he said. “He would have been on the wrong end of that and was the victim of a punishment shooting.”

Since then, the man has been “skirting around the edges” of the Real IRA said the source. “He wouldn’t have had the same profile in recent times as he had with Ryan but he certainly runs with them and uses their name to maintain his own criminal empire.”

Internal feud
The source said yesterday's shooting was "either a continuation of the internal feud in the IRA or a criminal element". No weapon has been recovered and it is understood CCTV footage of the area where the attack took place is limited as the cameras by the creche do not project all the way to the footpath.

The man is wanted for questioning by the PSNI in connection with a number of killings in Northern Ireland, and was described by the source as a “person of interest” in relation to the killing of PSNI officer David Black who was gunned down on the M1 in Co Armagh as he drove to work at Maghaberry Prison in November 2012.