Veteran republican Francie Mackey said at the weekend that the acts of desecration and intimidation of would not go unpunished at a commemoration for Real IRA chief Alan Ryan.
Just over 200 people turned out for the second anniversary memorial service yesterday in Balgriffin Cemetery on Saturday– less than half the number that turned up for last year’s service.
Tensions in North Dublin have been high all week in the run-up to the anniversary service.
Ryan’s local church was defaced earlier this week with two messages which threatened his younger brother, Vinny.
Blood-red graffiti reading ‘Alan Ryan rot in hell’ was also sprayed on a wall within the grounds.
The vandalism happened at the Holy Trinity Church in Donaghmede where Ryan’s funeral took place two years ago followed by a paramilitary-style procession to the cemetery.
It is suspected that the gang who had Ryan murdered carried out the attack on the church.
The same mob are suspected of attacking Ryan’s grave last year ahead of the first anniversary of his death.
Red spray paint was used to vandalise the grave with the insult ‘Rat Scum’ painted on the headstone.
Family keepsakes and small memorials were also defaced.
32 CSM chairman Mackey told mourners on Saturday that Ryan had “the heart of a lion”.
He said that “his sacrifice will become the bedrock on which our triumph will be born.”
He also vowed that republicans would confront the drug gangs behind Alan Ryan’s murder and also the people responsible for the recent graffiti campaign abusing the murdered dissident.
He said: “These acts of desecration and intimidation will not go unpunished. Anyone who thinks they will are deluded.”
He also said that Ryan was a proud republican who “stood up against some of the most vile individuals in this country”. Shots
Among those attending the service were his brothers Dermot, Vinny and Anthony, as well as his former partner, Stacey Roche.
On Saturday officers from the Garda Dog Unit, the Mounted Unit, the Emergency Response Unit, the Special Detective Unit and the Public Order Unit were all drafted in to ensure there were no open paramilitary displays at the event.
In 2012, balaclava-clad ‘volunteers’ fired a volley of shots over Ryan’s coffin sparking outrage from the then Justice Minister Alan Shatter.
On saturday after 1pm a large group of supporters began to gather at Ryan’s home at Grange Abbey Drive, Donaghmede, where a pipe band played and uniformed supporters banged drums. They were met by a heavy police presence including riot gardai who stood in close proximity to the house and along the route of the march.
Before his death, Ryan had been responsible for extorting hundreds of thousands of euro in so-called ‘protection money’ for the city’s drug gangs.
The dad-of-two, who was the head of the IRA’s Dublin brigade, was the most feared man in the criminal underworld and had personally murdered at least two drug barons.
However, a North Dublin gang are believed to have decided to execute Ryan rather than pay ‘tax’ to the group.
