LAST UPDATE | 30 Sep 2022

THREE MEN, SUSPECTED of being Hutch gang associates, were confronted by armed gardaí at a house in a north Dublin suburb yesterday after they allegedly went to a home linked to former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall in Cabra, West Dublin, earlier in the day. 

Dowdall, a councillor for the party until 2014, pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court on Wednesday to facilitating the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.

That murder ignited an already murderous feud between Hutch associates and the Kinahan Organised Crime Group.

Dowdall, alongside his father Patrick, both pleaded guilty this week to facilitating the murder of Mr Byrne at the north Dublin hotel.

Armed response

The incident in north Dublin yesterday involved three men – all suspected of being Hutch gang associations

It’s understood the three went to the Dowdall-linked house in Cabra and later returned to a house in the north Dublin suburb

Members of the Emergency Response Unit and the Armed Support Unit confronted the men at the property. 

It is understood that when the men saw the heavily-armed gardaí approaching they ran into the house.

Gardaí chased after them and confronted them inside. Nothing of note was found in a search of the men and the house, sources said. 

No arrests were made but it is understood that detectives from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau are examining the activities of the men. 

Approximately 18 people have been murdered in violence between the Hutch and Kinahan Organised Crime Groups. 

David Byrne was a senior member of the Kinahan aligned Byrne Organised Crime Group. He was shot dead by gunmen carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles inside the foyer of the Regency Hotel.

A Garda spokesperson refused to give any detail on yesterday’s operation, but acknowledged it was carried out during “proactive patrols”.