THIRTY-NINE people - more than the number killed in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings and more than those killed at Omagh - have met their deaths either through shooting or stabbing at the hands of the IRA since the 1994 ceasefire began. This list excludes the murders of Det Garda Jerry McCabe, and others killed in the North and in Britain during the period of the IRA's "active" ca

THIRTY-NINE people - more than the number killed in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings and more than those killed at Omagh - have met their deaths either through shooting or stabbing at the hands of the IRA since the 1994 ceasefire began. This list excludes the murders of Det Garda Jerry McCabe, and others killed in the North and in Britain during the period of the IRA's "active" campaign.

Christopher O'Kane, 37, was shot dead outside a Derry pub on April 21, 2001. O'Kane was a small-time drug dealer who had a number of run-ins with local IRA figures. Eamon Collins; the 45-year-old ex-prisoner was beaten and stabbed on January 27, 1999, because he wrote a brutally honest book, Killing Rage, about his role as part of the murderous IRA's south Armagh brigade. He also testified in the Sunday Times libel case against IRA boss, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy. Police who attended the scene said they had never encountered such injuries, which at first made them think he had been mangled by machinery. No one has been charged.

Paul Daly, 38, was sitting with his 11-year-old daughter in his car near the nationalist Unity Flats on May 4, 2001 when two gunmen approached and shot him. Daly was a known drug dealer and, although his death was never admitted, it was known to be another IRA murder under the pseudonym 'Direct Action Against Drugs' (DAAD).

Andy Kearney, 33, was involved in a fist fight with a notorious north Belfast IRA man. The IRA man sent an armed gang to Kearney's seventh-floor flat in the New Lodge area on July 20, 1997. They overpowered Kennedy tied his hands behind his back, dragged him out onto the landing and shot him three times in the legs. They then tore out the telephone and disabled the lift so Kearney's girlfriend had to run down 16 flights of stairs to raise help. He bled to death.

Michael Magee, 34, was recovering from a savage IRA punishment beating at his home in Downpatrick on June 11, 2001 when a masked gang broke in and shot him dead at point-blank range.

Local republicans said Magee was involved in drugs but his family and friends said he was not a dealer but was shot because he had a fight with a local republican.

Gareth O'Connor, 24, disappeared while travelling through south Armagh on March 11, 2003. Gardai believe he was murdered by the local IRA and secretly buried, and, although the reasons remain uncertain, it is believed they were acting on behalf of a 'Continuity' IRA figure from Armagh.

Mathew Burns, 26, was sitting in his car when gunmen opened fire killing Burns and injuring his brother at Castlewellan, Co Down on February 21, 2002. His family denied republican claims that he was a drug dealer.

Brian McDonald, 51, was a taxi-driver in Dungannon, Co Tyrone who was on his way to pick a fare in the town when he was approached by two gunmen and shot dead on April 4, 2002. Local people said a close relative of Mr McDonald's had been involved in a fight with a local IRA man and his murder was an act of revenge.

Seamus 'Shavo' Hogan, 47, was shot dead by an IRA hit squad as he emerged from the Transport Club in Crumlin on July 14, 2001. Shavo, who once was a close associate of 'the General', Martin Cahill, refused to pay protection money and suffered the consequences.

Edmund McCoy, 28, was sitting in a bar at Dunmurry in south Belfast when three gunmen walked in and shot him in the head and stomach on May 29, 2000. McCoy was a Catholic who associated with loyalist drug dealers. Again, the murder was seen as benefiting Catholic drug dealers who paid protection to the IRA.

Nicholas 'Mad Nicky' O'Hare, 34, was shot dead in Dundalk on August 19, 2000. O'Hare was a former INLA man heavily involved in criminality. He was believed to have been murdered by the IRA in retaliation for the killing of a Dundalk man, Stephen Connolly, three weeks earlier.

Patrick Quinn, 32, was also accused of being a drug dealer after his murder on September 29, 2000 as he sat drinking in the Depot Bar in Magherafelt, Co Derry, though his family and friends strongly denied the claim. He was shot dead at point-blank range by a lone gunman.

Joseph O'Connor, 26, was a 'Real' IRA man who was shot dead near his mother's home in the Ballymurphy estate in west Belfast on October 13, 2000. The IRA never admitted the killing, which local people said was carried out because O'Connor was muscling in on their local smuggled cigarette racket.

Trevor Kells, 35, was a Protestant taxi driver who answered a call to Ardoyne on December 5, 2000 and was shot dead by two gunmen. It was a sectarian murder apparently in retaliation for Kells' suspected involvement in a loyalist assassination in the Seventies.

Brendan 'Speedy' Fagan, 24, was a drug dealer in Newry who knew he was under threat from the IRA when he was shot dead in a local pub on May 9, 1999. As two gunmen approached him he shouted: "It's the Provies". Fagan bought drugs from Dublin dealers, including members of John Gilligan's gang.

Paul 'Bull' Downey, 37, was a close associate of 'Speedy' Fagan's whose body was found on south Armagh roadside June 13, 1999.

Charles Bennett, 22, had joined the IRA after the ceasefire and was accused of being a police informant. He was abducted, tortured and then taken to waste ground in west Belfast and shot through the head on July 25, 1999.

Brendan 'Bap' Campbell, 30, was another small-time Belfast drug dealer who was shot dead on February 9, 1998 as he left a Lisburn Road restaurant with his girlfriend.

Bobby Dougan, 34, was a prominent south Belfast loyalist who was shot dead by the IRA on February 10, 1998. Despite denying the murders of both Dougan and Campbell, ballistics tests showed the guns used were also used in previous IRA murders and Sinn Fein was suspended for two weeks from the talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement. They were then re-admitted and the IRA issued orders to import new handguns from Florida so that they could avoid detection from ballistics. The gun-smuggling ring was discovered in 1999 after some 200 guns were sent through the post to safe houses in the Republic.

Kevin Conway, 30, was found hooded and shot through the head on February 17, 1998 in farmland at Aghalee on the western outskirts of Belfast. The reason for Mr Conway's murder was never fully established, though local people said he had been targeted by the IRA for a punishment beating but that this escalated to murder.

Gerard Moran, 35, from Rory O'Connor House, Hardwicke Street, in north central Dublin, was shot dead while delivering takeaway food in Drumcondra on November 21, 1998. His murder was ordered by the IRA boss on the northside of Dublin, the same man who has been responsible for the series of container heists in Dublin city port and, ironically, the man believed to be sheltering the Belfast IRA man who stabbed Robert McCartney. Moran's death was ordered because he had taunted IRA figures in the north inner city.

Michael Mooney, 34, was shot dead as he sat drinking with friends in a Belfast city centre bar on April 28, 1995. His was the first of the series of IRA murders claimed under DAAD. One of the two gunmen involved in his murder was also centrally involved in the murder of Robert McCartney.

Anthony Kane, 29, was shot dead by a lone gunman as he sat in a car with his wife outside a west Belfast church where his aunt's funeral was taking place on September 5, 1995. Kane's murder was claimed under the DAAD cover name, but well-known local IRA figures were involved.

Paul 'Saul' Devine, 35, was shot six times in west Belfast on December 12, 1995. He was a known criminal who had previously carried out robberies and other crimes passing part of the proceeds to the IRA. Again DAAD claimed the murder.

Francis Collins, 40, was a former member of the IRA who was shot dead on the night of December 18, 1995 at the chip shop he ran in Belfast's New Lodge area. It is believed he had been in a dispute with a local IRA boss. He had no connections to the drugs trade though the IRA claimed his murder as a DAAD killing.

Christopher 'Sid' Johnston, 38, was shot dead at his home in south Belfast on December 19, 1995. At the time he was on bail for possession of £250,000 worth of cannabis. Again, claimed in the name of DAAD.

Martin McCrory, 30, was sitting in his flat on the evening of December 27, 1995 when two men burst in and shot him at point-blank range with a shotgun. His inquest heard he was a recreational drug user, but not a supplier. It is believed he had had an argument with local IRA figures.

Ian Lyons, 31, was shot dead by two gunmen who approached his car as it was parked outside his girlfriend's house in Lurgan, Co Armagh on January 2, 1996. A notorious local IRA man was responsible. It is believed the IRA man had demanded money from Lyons who had refused.

John Paul Devlin was sitting in his flat in the Markets area when two gunmen burst in and shot him to death on September 13, 1996. Devlin was due to appear in court the next day on minor drugs charges. He was not suspected of being a major drugs dealer but was shot dead as a "punishment" by the same IRA group responsible for the murder of Robert McCartney.

PJ Judge, 41, was shot dead on December 7, 1996 as he sat in a car outside a Finglas public house. Judge had a deserved reputation as a brutal criminal. However, local people say the IRA gang which murdered him has close links to Judge's rivals and were paid to carry out the assassination.

Joseph Foran , 38, had been a partner in crime of PJ Judge who was shot dead by the IRA in 1996. He was sitting in a car in Finglas with his girlfriend when two gunmen approached and shot him dead on February 26, 2000. Again local sources say Foran was shot by the IRA at the behest of his rivals in the local drugs trade.

Thomas 'Tomo' Byrne, 41, married with one young son, was shot dead as he enjoyed a drink with friends at O'Neill's pub in Summerhill in Dublin's north inner city on April 30, 2000. The same IRA man who ordered the killing of Gerard Moran is believed to have murdered Byrne. Tomo Byrne was said by local people to have beaten up the IRA gangster in a pub fight several months earlier.

Josie Dwyer, 41, was a semi-invalid heroin addict and HIV sufferer who was beaten to death by an "anti-drugs" mob led by two well-known local IRA men on May 14, 1996 on Basin Street, Dublin. Twelve people were originally charged with manslaughter but after one witness, Alan Byrne, was shot and almost died other people began withdrawing statements. In the end only two men were convicted for causing harm to Dwyer.

Mark Robinson, 22, the father of a small baby was also involved in a pub fight with another notorious Derry IRA man. A IRA gang armed with scaffolding poles and a butcher's knife pounced on him near his home in the Galliagh area on April 30, 2001 and stabbed and beat him to death.

Jimmy McGinley, 23, a friend of Mark Robinson's, he got into a dispute with Derry IRA man Bart Fisher who stabbed McGinley once in the heart. Fisher was

convicted of manslaughter two weeks ago and received three years after the Crown Prosecution Service dropped a charge of murder as no

witnesses were prepared

to testify. McGinley's family say they were subjected

to threats and intimidation throughout Fisher's trial.

Robert McCartney, 33, the Belfast father-of-two whose sisters have brought the issue of the IRA's brutal killing machine to international attention. McCartney was beaten with sewer rods and stabbed and slashed to death by at least 12 IRA at Magennis's bar in the Markets area of Belfast. Despite Gerry Adams' claims to want to help his family get justice no one has yet told police they saw the killing.

Bobby McGuigan, 36, the Lurgan, Co Armagh, father of a young son, was shot dead at point-blank range as he sat in his car on February 27, 2001. Republicans claim McGuigan was a drug dealer, but local people say he was murdered because of an argument with the local IRA boss. He was said by local people to have refused to pay protection money to local IRA bosses.

Kieran Smyth was found shot through the head at Curraha, Co Meath on February 9, 2001. Originally from Mullaghbawn in south Armagh he had been abducted then beaten and tortured for three days before being brought to farmland in Co Meath and his head bound in masking tape before being shot with a shotgun. It is believed a senior IRA man in south Armagh owed Smyth money from the sale of smuggled cigarettes and when Smyth pushed for the money he was murdered.

Eric Shorthall, 23, was

a drug addict and petty thief from Ballyfermot who may have inadvertently robbed

a man closely associated with the IRA. He was shot while out walking

on Crumlin Road on November 25, 1995.