(Valerie Robinson, Irish News)

The Continuity IRA last night (Tuesday) rejected claims that it was entangled in a violent feud involving crime families in Limerick city.

In a statement, the paramilitary group insisted that it had given "no aid or comfort to any side" in the long-running feud which has claimed several lives over the past decade.

Gardai are currently investigating the abduction and murder of crime boss Kieran Keane in the city in January.

The Limerick man, who headed one of the families involved in the feud, was found dead with a single shot to the head and his hands bound behind his back in a country road outside the city on January 29. His nephew Owen Treacy escaped the scene after suffering numerous stab wounds.

Reports had emerged that dissident republicans had supplied weapons to one of the gangs involved in the row which was sparked by the alleged abduction of Eddie Ryan (20) and his 19-year-old brother Kieran from the Ballynanty area of the city just days before the Keane murder.

But the 'Limerick Command' of the CIRA said that it was not involved in any way with the feud and had never supplied "military equipment to anyone involved in criminal activity".

In its statement, the organisation warned that it took "a very grim view" of the use of its name. "The people involved in this activity are hereby warned by the organisation that action will be taken if such claims are made in the future – people should desist forthwith," it said.

This article appeared first in the April 2, 2003 edition of the Irish News.

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