A FRESH STATEMENT from the Continuity IRA denies the dissident group had anything to do with Friday’s hotel shooting in the Drumcondra area of Dublin.

Gangland figure David Byrne was shot dead as a gang of gunmen staged a raid during a boxing weigh-in.

That killing was met with an apparent gangland reprisal last night – with Eddie Hutch Snr, brother of ‘The Monk’ shot dead on the northside of the city.

In a statement to the BBC yesterday, a man claiming to speak on behalf of the dissident republican organisation said its members were responsible.

He claimed Byrne was targeted because of his involvement in the killing of dissident republican Alan Ryan in 2012.

However, doubts were cast on the dissident group’s involvement – as investigators had been basing their operation on a Dublin gangland war.

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In a later statement, reported widely, the Continuity IRA said:

“The Continuity IRA wish to make it clear that we did not have any involvement in Friday’s shooting at the Regency Hotel.