THE family of a man left brain dead after being shot in the head have criticised RTÉ for refusing to release a reconstruction of his attack for use on a website appealing for witnesses.

Robert Delaney (28) was left with severe brain damage following a shooting in Tallaght, Dublin in 2008 which is understood to have been sparked by a row in a local pub.

The Crimecall programme, which re-enacts unsolved offences, featured the Delaney incident, but the station has refused to allow his family re-broadcast it.

The victim's father, Terry Delaney, said his family was baffled by the decision of the broadcaster which cited legal reasons for its refusal to release the footage.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that those behind the attack had been demanding a form of compensation from Robert Delaney for his part in an altercation with a local man.

A garda source said that those responsible for the shooting did not intend to kill the father-of-two but just to intimidate him by firing on his property. Instead he was shot directly in the face and remains in a vegetative state in hospital.

Last September, the victim's father wrote a letter of appeal to RTÉ general director Cathal Goan asking to be allowed air the Crimecall episode on their website innocentvictimsofviolence.ie.

"We have been unable to get permission to put the Crimecall programme on our site and, as you will appreciate, the programme could play a vital role in our campaign," he wrote.

While Goan failed to respond personally, the family was contacted by RTÉ which said the material could not be released for alternative broadcast due to legal reasons.

"My son has effectively been murdered and it's worse than murder because it's a case of the living dead," said Delaney.

"But put that aside; you send out a production company to our house which takes a lot of work and was shown once on TV. Instead of having it on the website for people to look at it, it's lying in the archive in RTÉ."

The broadcaster said the episode had been re-aired one year after the attack but that for editorial reasons it could not be released.

"Due to the evolving nature of cases featured, to allow that material to be broadcast/repeated after the point of transmission would require further, ongoing regular legal and editorial review to ensure that it has not subsequently become incorrect or prejudicial to legal proceedings," it said in a statement.

Last week two brothers and another man, all major suspects, were arrested in relation to the murder and were later released without charge. A file is being prepared for the DPP.

The family welcomed the development, but said they appreciate that the investigation remains complex.

"The guards just say to us they are making an arrest and that is it. And then they released them," said Delaney.

"A file is being prepared. That is as much as we know. But from our point of view, it's good that they are keeping this case alive. I am hopeful, but you never know with this stuff."