Gardaí investigating an incident in which a 16-year-old boy was shot in Crumlin, Dublin, last night, have arrested a second man.

A man in his late 20s was arrested this afternoon.



He is being held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939 at Sundrive Road Garda station and may be detained for up to 72 hours. Another man, also in his 20s and arrested today under the same legislation, remains in custody.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter described the attack as barbaric.

“This is yet another example of the callousness and barbarism of some of those engaged in criminality in Dublin. Hopefully this young man will recover from this event,” Mr Shatter said. “We are going to continue to target those who engage in this type of behaviour which is completely and totally unacceptable.”

The boy was injured when a number of shots were fired from a passing car outside a house on Lismore Road at about 9pm. The boy was taken to hospital with injuries to his back and arm.

Gardaí are investigating whether the boy - who was not known to them - was an unintended target in the drive-by shooting. It is not yet known whether a man in the victim's company was the intended target.

The teenager was taken by ambulance to St James’s Hospital. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

Gardaí have asked anyone with information to contact them at Crumlin Garda station on 01-6666200.

Deputy Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan said the shooting was a terrible atrocity and reprehensible, but stressed there was nothing to suggest it was an escalation in the bloody Crumlin/Drimnagh feud which has claimed 15 lives in a decade.

“The feuding in the area is constantly monitored and there is nothing to suggest that this is part of an escalation in any of the activities that are ongoing,” she said at an annual cross-border crime seminar in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

Local councillors said they were horrified by the attack. Labour’s Michael O’Sullivan warned there was a danger of people becoming numb to such shootings after three men were shot dead in similar gangland-style gun attacks in recent weeks.

“We’ve got to the stage where it’s nearly become something that people don’t react to,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

“It’s just been reported today that a 14-year-old girl in Pakistan has been shot by the Taliban, and we have worldwide condemnation. We should be acting to the same degree of horror.”

Local Fine Gael councillor Ruairi McGinley said it was clear the gunman meant murder. “I know the Lismore Road well, and they would have been shooting at very close quarters,” he said. “There’s no doubt, they were shooting to kill.”

John Wilson (35) was the 13th victim of gang-related killings this year when he was shot at his home in Ballyfermot, west Dublin, as he fled from a gunman on September 28th. The shooting was initially suspected of being linked to a feud with the Real IRA.

Earlier that week, Declan O’Reilly (32) was shot on South Circular Road in Dublin and Gerard Eglington, who is originally from the Crumlin area, was murdered in his home in Portarlington, Co Laois. The 27-year-old was the latest victim of the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud, which has claimed 15 lives over the last 10 years.

Last night's shooting victim is the second teenager to have been shot in Dublin this year. Melanie McCarthy-McNamara (16), from Tallaght, was fatally shot in the head in a drive-by shooting as she sat in the back seat of a car in February. Gardaí believe she was not the intended target. Two men have been charged with her murder.