State paid gangster €50,000 for house in run-down estate

 

THE State paid €50,000 to a notorious member of the McCarthy-Dundon criminal gang for his home. The Irish Independent has learnt that convicted extortionist Christopher McCarthy (28) received the pay-out from Limerick City Council after he offered to sell his home to the local authority. The council bought the house for €50,000 and another adjacent to it, also in McCarthy's name but understood to be owned by a relative, for €45,000 as part of a scheme to demolish old buildings in the city. The revelation comes just days after the family of murdered publican Roy Collins left Ireland as part of a witness relocation programme because of constant threats from members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang. McCarthy, a nephew of €115m EuroMillions winner lottery Dolores McNamara, has previous convictions for possession of ammunition and is currently serving seven-and-a-half years in prison for demanding money with menaces. He is a first cousin of criminal brothers Wayne, John, Dessie and Ger Dundon, all currently behind bars. His brother, Anthony 'Noddy' McCarthy, was one of five men convicted and jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of Limerick crime boss Kieran Keane, shot dead in 2003. When Limerick City Council bought McCarthy's property at 7 Crecora Avenue in Ballinacurra-Weston, the criminal had been imprisoned for over nine months following his arrest in April 2010. At the time of the house sale, he had more than 50 previous convictions and was awaiting sentence following a major garda investigation into the activities of the McCarthy-Dundon gang. It is believed that an individual acting under McCarthy's authorisation approached the council in a bid to sell his home to it. Limerick City Council agreed and the local authority was registered as the new owner of the property in January 2011, according to documents obtained by the Irish Independent. McCarthy is best known for a photograph in which he posed with two other gang members -- all bearing their tattoos. The €50,000 spent on the property -- which was later completely demolished -- came from a pot of almost €30m provided by the Department of the Environment to the council. A total of €22.6m was spent on the acquisition of homes across Limerick, but McCarthy is understood to be the only criminal figure whose house was purchased. A local authority source said that before the sales were completed, the council had received representations from community members within the Ballinacurra-Weston area to purchase the homes in Crecora Avenue. They were bought in a bid to clean up the area. In total, four homes in Crecora Avenue were bought by the council and all have since been demolished and the area cleared. "The block they were in was in a very bad physical state. Some of the houses were privately owned by the council," the source said. Had McCarthy's house not been bought and been left to stand alone while surrounding homes were levelled, the demolition work would have been more expensive. Ballinacurra-Weston is one of four areas in the city which were earmarked for a major regeneration project. In 2010, McCarthy was arrested with six other gang members as part of an extortion campaign against a nightclub promoter. Weeks after the sale of his house was completed, McCarthy appeared in the Special Criminal Court. He pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces from Mark Heffernan Jr at John Carew Park on dates between January 22 and February 12, 2009. He was subsequently sentenced to seven-and-a-half years' imprisonment. The six other McCarthy-Dundon gang members were also jailed. As well as earning numerous drugs convictions, McCarthy was jailed for two years after he was caught with five rounds of 9mm ammunition in his sock following a high speed chase through Limerick in 2006.

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