A parish priest in Limerick has appealed to factions involved in the bloody Limerick feud not to take revenge following the latest gangland murder.
Fr Frank O'Dea was speaking yesterday at the funeral Mass of Frankie Ryan (21) who was shot dead in his car in Moyross last Sunday. The murder was the sixth killing in the vicious Limerick feud in the past six years.
At yesterday's Requiem Mass in Corpus Christi church in Moyross, Fr O'Dea said Mr Ryan's parents were justifiably angry at the people who took their son's life. However, he stressed that the family did not want revenge, which would only add to their sense of pain and grief.
"Even though they are feeling a sense of raw anger, they are able to say that they do not want revenge," Fr O'Dea said. "They are able to see clearly enough through their awful anguish that revenge is futile, that revenge would only add to their pain and damage them further."
Mourners in the small church yesterday were led by Mr Ryan's parents, Frank and Kay, three brothers, two sisters and his girlfriend, Samantha.
Fr O'Dea made a direct appeal to other mourners to heed the wishes of the family and to respect their calls for no retaliation.
"I make this appeal to anybody tempted to take the path of revenge, tempted to take the path of retaliation to heed Frank and Kay's words, that revenge, that retaliation is futile. It is not the way forward."
Following the Mass, gardaí in uniform and detectives in unmarked cars maintained a discreet presence along the route of the funeral cortege. They stopped traffic at key junctions as the cortege wound its way through the city.
More than 50 mourners walked behind the hearse in driving rain on the three-mile journey to Mount St Oliver cemetery in Rathbane. A number of young men in dark suits carried a large floral tribute behind the hearse, which bore the inscription "Frankie love [ heart-shaped symbol] Dundon Boys".
It is believed that Mr Ryan had aligned himself to the McCarthy/ Dundon faction in the feud.
Three Dundon brothers are serving jail sentences.