The Five Demands

Gardai on alert as pub stages Alan Ryan fundraiser (The Independent)

Gardai kept a close watch on a fundraising event held for the family of slain Real IRA boss Alan Ryan at a popular Dublin pub.

Officers maintained a discrete presence outside the sold-out event at the Submarine Bar in Crumlin.

A small number of uniformed gardai watched on as a steady stream of people, many from the North, began queuing up to enter from 7.30pm.

Admittance to the function was by ticket only and the pub closed its doors to the general public for the night.

The event took place last night amid tight private security. Three burly doormen patted down everyone entering and bags were also searched.

Ryan’s family and friends, along with members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the political wing of the Real IRA — some of whom were bussed down from Northern Ireland — attended the function.

Among those seen entering was Alan Ryan’s brother Vincent. The fundraiser came two months after Ryan (32), the leader of the Real IRA faction in Dublin, was gunned down.

He was shot in the body, legs and head by a masked gunman on September 3 while walking along Grange Lodge Avenue, in Clongriffin, north Dublin, near his home.

He had become a senior figure in the Real IRA over the past decade and had a long list of enemies.

Ryan’s group was largely based around his home area of Donaghmede, where he lived at Grange Abbey Drive, although he also had an address in Co Carlow.

A music group known as the Players’ Brigade “Rebel Band”, released ‘The Ballad of Alan Ryan’ at last night’s event. Copies of the CD were on sale for €5 each.

Ryan had been under Garda Special Branch surveillance since he was first arrested by armed officers at a Real IRA training camp and arms bunker at Herbertstown, Stamullen, Co Meath, in October 1999 while only a teenager.

Although a number of arrests have been made, no one has been charged with his murder.

– Luke Byrne