The family of a Dublin postman who was shot in the face in a callous attack at his home has pleaded for help in solving the crime.

Robert Delany suffered horrific injuries and has been left with massive brain damage as a result of the shooting last October.

Now, on the first anniversary of his attack, his family, supported by the Herald, have launched a campaign to try to bring Robert's attackers to justice.

Robert was in his Russell Rise apartment in Tallaght on October 22 last year when he heard the buzzer ring at around 6.30am.

When he looked out the window to see who was calling their home so early in the morning, he was shot in the face with a shotgun.

Since that night, the father of two lies in a vegetative state in Tallaght Hospital being cared for daily by his partner Mags and his parents Terry and Noleen.

His injuries are horrendous. Large sections of his skull were blown away by the shotgun blast, leaving flattened areas now visible at the sides and top of his head.

Sixteen shotgun pellets remain inside his brain, having destroyed the complex lobes that control everything from consciousness and personality to thought and speech.

His left eye is dead. There is no hope of recovery for Robert. He is fed through a tube, and has been anointed twice.

It is believed Robert, who has no criminal past and was not known to gardai, was targeted because he intervened in a row in a pub in Saggart in which the son of a former senior figure in the Provisional IRA was involved.

Robert had been told he would be sorry after intervening in the row, but as the weeks passed with no action against him he felt the threat had subsided and was starting to return to his normal self and go out again.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has condemned the shootings as thuggery, and branded those responsible criminals. He said the father of the alleged attacker had not been active in Sinn Fein for more than 10 years.

"A grievous wrong has been done on this young man and on his family and they are entitled to justice," said Adams.

The Delanys have now launched a website, innocentvictimsofviolence.ie, to encourage people to come forward with information.

The site also details a €20,000 reward being offered for information that will lead to the conviction of Robert's assailants.

If you have any information that could help bring Robert's attackers to justice, log on to innocentvictimsofviolence.ie, or call the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666111.

cfeehan@herald.ie

- Conor Feehan