Tuesday 4 September 2012

Alan Ryan - Live by the gun, die by the gun

When I first think of the name Alan Ryan, the words, extortionist, bully, Republican terrorist, and convict, immediately come to mind. However, he also was a family man, a father and a loving partner. There are indeed two sides to every story but one must keep in mind, two wrongs will never make a right.

Ryan was adored by dissident Republicans both north and south of the border. This was mainly due to the fact he maintained a steady influx of funding for paramilitary group, the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), through racketeering.

In any war, non-governmental factions will always be funded through criminality. The RIRA are no different. The days of constant terror across the border caused by civil war, fought between a Republican and Unionist divide, are now a thing of the past. But that doesn't mean paramilitary organisations have ceased to exist.

With peaceful negotiations seen as the way forward for Ireland to progress in its entirety, groups such as the RIRA and other break away Republican factions are finding it harder and harder to garner public backing. The vast majority of Ireland see no need for such criminal groups in modern day Ireland. Subsequently, this is why many groups whose founding ethos is based on political nationalism are dragged into drug dealing, extortion, and underworld bullying campaigns.

Let's not be blinded by patriotism. Ryan was handing out life threatening beatings, dismembering rival gang members and, allegedly, ordering the murders of enemies. This should be in no way condoned by the masses of armchair Republicans who see any of these actions acceptable just because he masquerades as a clean cut anti-imperialist protester. As seen in the protests against the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II, where Ryan lead a protest charge near Christchurch goading members of an Garda Síochana into violence.

It must be stated though, Ryan was far from a blood thirsty mass murderer as may be perceived from certain tabloid newspaper reports. Despite supplying us with all of our daily information, the media does nothing to ensure unbiased, objective reporting. Sensation has become a mainstay in capitalist society. Sensationalise, shock, to sell more papers, to get more viewers, more listeners, more readers.

Ryan was however, a criminal. He was involved in extortion. His racketeering may have been towards drug dealers who on the most part, show no regard for their 'customers' well being, but it's still racketeering. He may  have caused certain drug-lords of Dublin to flee to warmer European regions but he did this through brutal attacks, leaving victims in semi-conscious states.

Republicans may hold him in high regards for proudly completing a four year sentence in Portlaoise prison for partaking in illegal terrorists camps. Republicans may hold him in high regards for ridding, a small minority, of Dublin based drug dealers from Ireland. But for me, this is all too narrow-minded. Ryan is not a Republican martyr akin to lost rebels of years gone by. 

In this modern era of Dublin with it's ever increasing crime underworld not a single person is untouchable, regardless of what gang you are associated with, paramilitary or otherwise. Ryan is a prime example of this. He was living on borrowed time and his cocky lifestyle ultimately led to his downfall.

Ryan may have been acting on what he perceived to be the greater good, but there is no denying he was still a criminal fool and an enemy of all that's decent, honourable, and true in society. His life ended in a hail of daylight gunfire. Ryan lived by the gun, and as result, died by the gun. May he rest in peace.

S.DAWSON 04/09/12