A long-standing feud between a Limerick family and "a number of other factions" resulted in the shooting dead of a 41-year-old man in a busy Limerick pub in 2000, a murder trial jury has been told at the Central Criminal Court.
Opening the trial of Mr Paul Coffey (25), formerly of Derryfada, Clonlara, Co Clare, Mr Tom O'Connell, prosecuting, told the jury that two women were also shot when two masked gunmen opened fire on Mr Edward Ryan in the city-centre pub.
Mr Coffey has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ryan in Limerick city on November 12th, 2000. The prosecution alleges that the accused was part of a "killing party" and that he aided and abetted the two gunmen by acting as the driver of the getaway car.
Mr O'Connell said that the motive for the shooting was a fight between the Ryan family and some other families in the city.
"Two masked gunmen burst into the fairly packed bar and opened fire with two handguns at Eddie Ryan," Mr O'Connell told the court. Eleven bullets struck the victim, and he slid off his stool to the ground, rapidly losing consciousness.
He was pronounced dead upon arrival at Limerick General Hospital shortly afterwards.
"Paul Coffey drove two gunmen to the pub, waited outside while they went inside and shot Eddie Ryan," Mr O'Connell said. "When they came out more shots were discharged from the getaway car into the glass windows of the pub."
The car, which had been stolen, drove off at speed, and the two gunmen were dropped off a few miles away before the car was burned out.
The victim of the shooting was a married man with three children who had not been living at home for some time before his death.
He had a criminal record and was known to Mr Coffey and easily identified in the pub by the two men who targeted him at close range.
"By entering into the plot and participating in its execution knowing that a person was to be shot at . . . he is just as guilty as the man who pulled the trigger," Mr O'Connell said.
The proprietor of the pub, Mr Pat Toban, described the "chaos and pandemonium" in the pub during the shooting, thinking at first it was fireworks going off. "I realised we were being shot at so I pressed the panic button," he said.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice O'Higgins and a jury.