Shooting victim tried to kick drug habit

A MAN gunned down in a suburban pub had beaten drug addiction and gone on to become a drugs counsellor, only to fall back into his drug habit and be jailed for drug dealing before being shot dead in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Alan McNally, a 36-year-old from Finglas, north Dublin, was shot in the head in the Cappagh Nua pub, Barry Road, Finglas.

He had been released late last year from a prison sentence of seven years for heroin dealing.

His brother Graham, also a well-known gangland criminal and heroin dealer, was shot dead in Finglas three years ago.

Gardaí believe Alan McNally started drinking on Wednesday morning and remained in the pub throughout the day until 1am yesterday morning.

He was sitting with a Finglas criminal who was well known to him when a man wearing a hoodie top and scarf over his face walked into the pub carrying what gardaí believe was a semi-automatic 9mm handgun.

The gunman walked up to McNally, a father of two from Cappagh Ave, Finglas, and singled him out, discharging a large number of shots.

The victim put his hands up to defend himself and sustained gunshot wounds to his hands and head. It is understood he was shot at least five times.

As the gunman carried out the attack, an accomplice wearing a “Scream” mask stood look-out at the pub door. When McNally lay dying on the floor, the attackers ran from the area towards nearby Casement Park. Gardaí believe they had a car waiting close by to take them from the area, but this is unconfirmed.

McNally was taken by ambulance to James Connolly Memorial Hospital Blanchardstown and was pronounced dead there.

Gardaí have appealed for anyone with information about the killing to come forward.

A number of members of the Traveller community were drinking in the pub after a funeral and gardaí are trying to make contact with them as potential witnesses.

The pub was sealed off and underwent an examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau yesterday.

Gardaí believe McNally’s killing was most likely drug-related.

However, the dead man also had a reputation for becoming involved in confrontations when drinking.

One recent altercation with a known criminal is being investigated as one of a number of possible motives for his murder.

He had survived being shot when he was a teenager and shots were fired at a house where he lived and into a caravan he owned about five years ago.

In 2008 he pleaded guilty to the possession of heroin valued at €200,000 and was jailed for seven years, with 2½ years suspended. With time off for good behaviour, he was released late last year.

During his trial the court was told McNally had been abusing drugs since the age of 13.

He was clean from 2001 to 2006 when he studied drug intervention and counselling at UCD, before he took on the position of running aftercare houses on a voluntary unpaid basis.

McNally’s supervisor died and was never replaced and he came under a lot of pressure running the programme’s three houses, which led to his relapse into addiction in 2006.

He then ran up a drugs debt. He became involved in dealing to pay that debt and to feed his habit, before being caught with drugs in a car and being brought before the court.