Weapons recovered following gun attack

Gardai investigating a gun attack on a 48-year-old man in Dundalk on Tuesday night recovered a shotgun and sledgehammer.

Gardai investigating a gun attack on a 48-year-old man in Dundalk on Tuesday night recovered a shotgun and sledgehammer.

Mr Anthony Cunnane was in a critical condition in Louth County Hospital yesterday after emergency surgery for shotgun wounds to his stomach and chest.

Garda sources confirmed the investigation will look at the possibility that the shooting relates to an internal INLA feud.

The shotgun and sledgehammer will be forensically examined to determine if they were used in the attack. They were found in a garden of a house close to Mr Cunnane's home.

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Mr Cunnane is married with children but it is not known if he was on his own when three men burst into the house and shot him at close range just after 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday.

If the attack is found to be related to the INLA, it will be the third such shooting in Dundalk in the last year.

In July, 26-year-old publican Stephen Connolly was shot dead on Park Street by a lone gunman. Detectives believe he was killed after refusing to pay money to a protection racket being run by local criminals associated with the INLA.

Just three weeks later, former INLA man Nicky O'Hare was shot dead on Church Street, a short distance from Mr Connolly's pub. Gardai had suspected O'Hare of leading the gang that ordered the "hit" on Mr Connolly.