Gerry Adams: Dublin hotel attack was an outrage
Gerry Adams today described the recent fatal gun attack at the Regency Hotel as “an outrage”.
The Sinn Féin leader was responding to calls from Irish political leaders, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, to comment on the weapons used in the attack.
“I am interested to hear the media comment that the AK47s may well be very similar if not of the same cargo that came in from abroad with the provisional IRA a number of years ago,” the Taoiseach said earlier.
“It might be interesting to hear the Sinn Féin president comment on this, because if that’s a fact it’s absolutely hypocritical to go talking about the abolition of the Special Criminal Court, when we know from judges in the past of the gross intimidation, the gross intimidation of juries and witnesses.
“The reports are that they are similar or part of that, and if that’s the case then an appropriate statement from the President of Sinn Féin should be made immediately.”
In a statement to the BBC in Belfast, The Continuity IRA said they ordered the killing of David Byrne using a six-man gang, some armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and dressed in Swat team uniforms, at the hotel.
The statement also claimed the terrorist faction had been retraining and re-arming in recent years.
“This will not be an isolated incident. CIRA units have been authorised to carry out further operations. More drug dealers and criminals will be targeted. CIRA will carry out further military operations,” it claimed.
Responding to the news, Deputy Adams stated this afternoon: “I understand a group calling itself the Continuity IRA has claimed responsibility for the attack at the Regency Hotel.
“They are not the IRA.
“The IRA are gone and their weapons are gone.
“Enda Kenny knows that.
“Incidentally, the same group has me and other Sinn Féin reps under active death threat. This was confirmed to me by the PSNI in recent months.”
The Louth TD joined deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald in calling for those involved in the shooting to be jailed.
“What happened at the Regency Hotel last week was an outrage and horrendous,” he said.
“It was a brazen attack in broad daylight by criminal thugs who believe they can operate with impunity and above the normal rule of law.
“They should be locked up, where they belong.
“Organised crime can be tackled.
“Sinn Féin’s priority in tackling crime will be to provide the Gardaí with proper resources and we will recruit 3,000 gardaí - more than reversing the 2,500 cut by this Government - and to reopen the 140 Garda stations they have closed.
“Our overriding aim is to ensure criminal thugs have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
“They need to be brought to justice, be subject to the full rigour of the law and put behind bars where they belong.”
About 300 people were in the hotel when the gang struck, including families with children, boxing fans and a small number of members of the media.
They were attending a weigh-in for a title fight billed Clash of the Clans between Jamie Kavanagh and Antonio Jao Bento.
Two other men were injured in the shooting while a number of bystanders and workers were either threatened at gunpoint or fled.
Some journalists and photographers from Irish newspapers were also in the grounds of the hotel anticipating figures from Dublin’s criminal underworld would be present.
Witnesses described seeing two other gunmen carrying handguns, one dressed as a woman with an auburn wig and the other wearing a beige flat cap and tracksuit.
Units of the Garda’s armed Emergency Response Unit were sent on patrol in certain parts of Dublin over the weekend with a number of high profile checkpoints set up in the wake of the murder.
No arrests have been made.
