Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to the fatal shooting of a Dublin man in a city centre pub last night.
The shooting took place at Grumpy Jack's pub on the Coombe at about 9.45pm.
Two men on a motorcycle pulled up outside the public house and the pillion passenger went inside and singled out John Carroll (33). He then shot him a number of times at short range with a handgun.
Gardai said there were up to 20 people in the pub at the time of the attack.
The man, who was later named as John Carroll, was taken to St James's Hospital with serious injuries. Despite attempts by medical staff to save his life he later died in hospital at about 11.30pm. Both suspects wore helmets and made their getaway on the motorcycle in the direction of Dean Street.
The area was sealed off last night for technical examination and gardaí carried out interviews with witnesses and people living in the area.
Mr carroll was a married father of three from Dublin. He had been living most recently at Mountpleasant Avenue, in Ranelagh, with a partner but also had an address at flats in nearby Charlemont Street.
He is believed to have been heavily involved in drug dealing and was under investigation by the Garda National Drugs Unit.
Superintendent Thady Muldoon, who is leading the murder investigation, said the killing may be gangland-related but insisted detectives had not yet settled on a motive.
"We are following all avenues of inquiry and we have no definite motive at this stage," he said.
Before last night there were five gangland murders carried out since the beginning of the year.
Fine Gael's justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said criminals "can pick off their adversaries with impunity" and blamed the rising number of murders on Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern's decision to cut Garda overtime.
"Criminals have been given a break from the law because gardaí are being forced back to barracks," Mr Flanagan said, adding that his party would submit its Criminal Justice (Violent Crime Prevention) Bill to the Dáil, which would give gardaí increased powers and introduce a mandatory 25-year jail sentence for murder.
The Labour Party said the shooting showed that the Government had failed to get to grips with gangland crime.
"Since 1997 successive Fianna Fáil-led Governments have been telling us that they would put gangs out of business, but all the evidence shows they are failing in this regard," said Dublin South Central TD Mary Upton.