The Labour Party has called on the Government to introduce a new strategy to deal with criminal gangs after last night's "gangland style" killing in north Dublin.
The body of Andrew Dillon (28) from Berryfield Road, Finglas, was discovered lying in a ditch at the side of Green Lane by a walker at around 4pm yesterday.
Mr Dillon was shot in the head and gardaí had to use fingerprint records to identify him due to the severity of the wounds.
He was known to gardaí and was wanted in connection with criminal charges.
The Labour Party called for a new strategy to deal with criminal gangs, saying that Operation Anvil appeared to have fizzled out with little visible evidence of results.
According to Joe Costello, the party's justice spokesperson, the murders disprove the boast made by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell last November in which he claimed that he had put criminal gangs out of business.
"We are still only in the eight month of this year, yet the number of gangland type killings so far is approaching double the number recorded in all of last year. Indeed gangland killings have become so much the norm that the finding of the body near Finglas merited little media attention," said Mr Costello.
"These murders show that the gangs have easy access to weapons and are prepared to use them. The gang bosses know that they have little to fear, as so few people have been charged or convicted arising from gangland killings over recent years.
"We need a new strategy to deliver safe streets and particularly to put the gun gangs out of business," he said.
A postmortem is due to be carried out on Mr Dillon's body later today. Garda forensic officers yesterday examined the small country road, off the Dublin to Ashbourne Road.
Superintendent Gabriel McIntyre of Blanchardstown Garda Station said a murder investigation had begun, and he appealed for anyone who saw any suspicious activity in the area to come forward.
The death marks the third gangland style killing in Ireland in the last week.
Last Saturday, Eric Cummins (29) was shot several times in his front garden in Ballincollig in Co Cork, and Vincent O'Brien (53) was shot dead in his home in Bray, Co Wicklow.
Gardaí made almost 250 arrests and seized more than 120 illegally held firearms in the first 10 weeks of Operation Anvil, which was set up to investigate serious organised crime in Dublin.
