Security Tight For Dublin Feud Funeral

Armed officers and a police helicopter are deployed as several hundred people attend a funeral service for David Byrne.

17:30, UK, Monday 15 February 2016

By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

Irish police have mounted a huge security operation for the funeral of a man shot dead during the weigh-in for a boxing match in Dublin.

It is understood to have involved the largest deployment of armed officers in the city since the Queen's historic state visit to Ireland in 2011.
A police helicopter hovered above several hundred mourners as they walked behind two hearses, one carrying an American-style casket and the other flowers.
Two horse-drawn carriages followed behind, each laden with bouquets, inscribed with the words "uncle" and "best pal", one in the shape of a boxing ring.
To the haunting strains of a lone piper's lament, eight men dressed in pale blue shirts and dark ties carried David Byrne's casket into church.

Flowers at the funeral of David Byrne in Dublin

A boxing ring-shaped tribute was among those at the funeral

Those who had gathered for requiem mass heard Father Martin Dolan, administrator at the Church of St Nicholas of Myra, describe the killers as "dehumanised".
Mr Byrne, 34, was shot dead when six men, some of them dressed as a police SWAT team, opened fire at the city's Regency Hotel.
His murder - thought to be a reprisal for the shooting of Gary Hutch in Spain last year - marked an escalation in the feud between drug cartels.
Four days later, Eddie Hutch senior, an uncle of Gary Hutch, was shot dead in his Dublin home as the cycle of tit-for-tat killing continued.

Several hundred mourners gathered at the church

The men at the centre of the feud are Gerry Hutch, dubbed 'The Monk', and Christy Kinahan, a convicted drugs baron now living in Spain.
Gary, the first victim, was Gerry's nephew and Eddie, the third victim, his brother.
Mr Byrne, the second victim, was an associate of Christy Kinahan.
Christy Kinahan's sons, Daniel and Christy junior, are believed to have attended the funeral of Mr Byrne, having flown back to Dublin from Spain on Sunday.
Traffic on surrounding streets was halted while 10 Mercedes limousines transported the mourners, many of them covering their faces, to the city's Mount Jerome cemetery.
With preparations under way for Eddie Hutch's funeral, Dublin remains on high alert with armed police manning checkpoints in a bid to avoid any further blood-letting.