GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the shooting of two men and the wounding of a third with a slash hook at Dublin’s Smithfield horse fair believe the violence has its roots in a feud in Waterford city.
While the two men who were shot are from Co Offaly and others involved are from south Dublin, the rivalries that appear to have prompted the violence on Sunday have their origins in a long-running feud between factions of Travellers based in Waterford.
Gardaí believe some of those originally involved in the feud have moved to different parts of the country and that when they came face to face at the horse fair violence erupted.
It appears a row in which weapons such as iron bars, chains and slash hooks were produced was already under way when one man took out an improvised shotgun and opened fire.
The shooting began when a man was left with a gaping wound to his lower arm after he was attacked with a slash hook. He lost a large amount of blood and underwent surgery to save his arm.
The gunman wounded two members of an extended Traveller family from Co Offaly. The men were shot in the hip and leg; their injuries are not life threatening.
Gardaí found the dumped improvised shotgun at the scene and on Sunday night a handgun that had been brought to the horse fair was found in a flat in the Oliver Bond complex in the south inner city.
A man in his 40s arrested in relation to the handgun was being questioned last night. He is being held on suspicion of helping to hide the weapon but is not a suspect for the earlier shooting.
Gardaí believe all of those involved in the violence are linked to a feud in Waterford that has involved hundreds of incidents in recent years including the petrol bombing of property and non-fatal shootings and stabbings.
The feud began around four years ago at a Traveller bare-knuckle fight in a housing estate in Waterford city. One man was stabbed to death in 2009.
Gardaí have spoken to a number of people caught up in Sunday’s violence but some members of the Traveller community have been reluctant to supply information about what unfolded.
The investigating team believe the violence was most likely captured by people who were filming the fair on their phones.
Gardaí have appealed for anybody with footage or images to contact them.
Independent Dublin city councillors Nial Ring and Cieran Perry last night used a meeting of the council to urge the city manager to close the Smithfield fair on health and safety grounds.