{"id":36141,"date":"2025-04-20T17:29:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T17:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/36141\/"},"modified":"2025-04-20T17:29:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T17:29:15","slug":"first-sighting-of-dissident-republican-two-months-after-surviving-gun-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/36141\/","title":{"rendered":"First sighting of dissident republican two months after surviving gun attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sean O\u2019Reilly \u2013 who was shot while sitting in his car \u2013 was seen today at a republican Easter commemoration event in Milltown Cemetery.<\/p>\n

Images from the event, organised by the Republican Network for Unity group, show O\u2019Reilly watching on, with his left arm supported by a black sling.<\/p>\n

Cork ard chomhairle member Roger Tuohy, who addressed the rally paid, tribute to him.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe admire the strength and courage of our comrades who have been personally attacked by criminal elements, especially our comrade Sean O\u2019Reilly, who has faced down the enemy directly and remains a committed republican stalwart within our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

To applause, he added: \u201cWe are here by your side, comrade.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly was shot while sitting in his car outside the taxi firm where he works in the Bell Steel Manor area of Poleglass on February 23.<\/p>\n

\"Sean<\/p>\n

Sean O’Reilly during the Republican Network for Unity Easter commemoration at Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast today (Photo by Kevin Scott)<\/p>\n

Republican Network for Unity easter commemoration <\/p>\n

Police said he was approached by two masked men. Five shots were fired at him, hitting him once in the shoulder.<\/p>\n

Following the shooting O\u2019Reilly was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital with non-life threatening injuries and had surgery there to remove a bullet which had lodged in his collarbone.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly was due to undergo a second surgery for nerve damage in Scotland.<\/p>\n

However, his lawyer later confirmed he had to travel to Dublin for that procedure, after being denied permission on anti-terrorism grounds to travel to Scotland.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly is a member of Republican Network for Unity and a former republican prisoner.<\/p>\n

The west Belfast man had reportedly been threatened two weeks prior to the shooting in a garage forecourt.<\/p>\n

It sparked fears of a violent retaliation amid an escalating feud between members of the dissident gang Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).<\/p>\n

The RNU event heard claims part of Ireland \u201ccontinues to live under the shadow of British occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tuohy added: \u201cWe continue to bear the brunt of decisions made in that foreign parliament in Westminster, subjective to brutal cuts which have effectively crippled necessary services and put every family in the six counties under immense pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sean O\u2019Reilly \u2013 who was shot while sitting in his car \u2013 was seen today at a republican…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[8819,1144,16,15,6110],"class_list":{"0":"post-36141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-amy-cochrane","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-west-belfast-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114371478409319348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}