The US special envoy to Ireland is to meet the family of a Dublin man who they say was murdered by republicans.
Ambassador Mitchell Reiss said today there were a number of "serious concerns" about the killing in April last year of Joseph Rafferty and similarities with the death of Robert McCartney who was killed by the IRA.
The 29-year-old was murdered after leaving his home near Clonsilla in West Dublin after what that family said was a long running row with republicans. He was shot twice by a gunman disguised as a construction worker as he walked to the van he drove for a courier company.
The Rafferty family are due to travel to the United States next week to highlight the case and for meetings with prominent US politicians. They claim Sinn Fein did too little to stop the murder.
Mr Reiss, who has been visiting London, Belfast and Dublin on a fact finding mission spoke out about the murder today. "I think it raised all the issues that are of broader concern to the community across Ireland, which has to do with criminality and paramilitary violence on both sides of the sectarian divide," he said.
Comparisons have been drawn between the Rafferty murder and that of Robert McCartney who was stabbed to death outside a Belfast bar a year ago.
Speaking on the BBC Inside Politics programme Mr Reiss said he wanted to speak to the family and other people on the ground before concluding how much similarity there was with the McCartney murder.
"I certainly see how it is easy to draw parallels, of course every tragedy is a unique experience and trauma for the family, but again I think this has to be an issue that is of great concern to all the people in Ireland and many of us in America who follow these issues," said Mr Reiss.
PA