The man shot dead in Dundalk on Saturday night is thought to have been the leading INLA figure in the Co Louth town.
Mr Nicholas O'Hare (35), a native of Belfast, was gunned down on Church Street only yards from the bar owned by Stephen Connolly, who was murdered last month for what gardai believe may have been his failure to pay protection money to the INLA.
As the latest murder investigation got under way yesterday, the Garda at Dundalk said a connection with the Connolly killing was one theory being followed.
But a spokesman said nothing was being ruled out, and it is understood that the investigation is also exploring a link with an ongoing feud between the INLA and a Dublin criminal gang which has already claimed two lives.
Mr O'Hare was held for questioning last week about the murder of small-time criminal Patrick Neville, who was shot dead in April in what was believed to have been a revenge attack for the killing of an INLA man, Patrick Campbell, last October. That in turn was thought to have been the sequel to an incident in which the INLA administered a beating to several members of the Dublin gang.
Mr O'Hare had lived in Dundalk for many years and ran an extensive pub security business, providing bouncers to bars and nightclubs throughout the Northeast and in Dublin. A non-drinker and non-smoker, he was known as a gambler and had just returned from a night at the local greyhound track when he was killed on the footpath outside the Cuchulain bar.
The owner of a nearby shop said the street, which has several pubs, was unusually quiet at the time of the shooting. He had heard "at least half a dozen shots, if not more" and when he went outside after about 30 seconds, the victim was already dead. "He was hit in the face."
A well-known, and feared, figure in the town, Mr O'Hare's death was being celebrated yesterday by some local people. While gardai continued to seal off the street, passers-by shouted that the killing was "a good job" and "a great day for Dundalk". One source said motorists passing the scene the night before had beeped their horns: "It was like Louth had won a match or something."
Another local man who said he had known Mr O'Hare for 18 or 19 years described him as "a gentleman, so long as you were on the right side of him. But a lot of people crossed the street when they saw him coming."
Mr O'Hare's body was taken from the scene at 3.30 a.m. yesterday and a post-mortem carried out later in the day by the Chief State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, confirmed he had died of gunshot wounds.
Saying that the dead man had been "known to the Garda", Supt Michael Staunton of Dundalk Garda station confirmed only that a possible link to the Connolly shooting was one of the theories being investigated in the murder inquiry.
The scene of Mr O'Hare's killing is about 300 yards from the upmarket apartment complex - Carroll Village - into which he moved in recent months. Some locals said the shooting happened when he was waiting for a takeaway curry from a restaurant beside the Cuchulainn bar and went outside to answer his mobile phone.
The restaurant and the several pubs on the street were closed yesterday as the forensic examination of the scene continued, but gardai said they had collected the names of people leaving the bars on Saturday night and they would all be interviewed during the course of the inquiry.
