‘ALARMING’ | 

Dublin City Council ‘turned blind eye’ to garda probe into protection racket

The sinister racket saw children as young as 12 being used to target building sites – before being called off once the contractors on site agreed to make payments to career criminal Derek ‘Dee Dee’ O’Driscoll and his enforcer David Reilly.

Today at 09:23

Dublin City Council bosses did not take steps ‘to inform themselves’ after two employees were quizzed by gardai over a protection racket run by a gangster at council sites, a Government-ordered report has concluded.

The sinister racket saw children as young as 12 being used to target building sites – before being called off once the contractors on site agreed to make payments to career criminal Derek ‘Dee Dee’ O’Driscoll and his enforcer David Reilly.

On November 20 of last year, the Department of Housing was informed by gardai that a criminal investigation into this matter had concluded and that the DPP had directed no prosecution.

A report into the scandal was commissioned by former housing minister Eoghan Murphy in 2019 after a case was taken by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) against O’Driscoll and Reilly in the High Court.

However, the findings of the report have never been made public — even though gardaí have finished their investigation.CAB, in evidence to the High Court, alleged that, in the case of the two sites developed by Dublin City Council, two named employees of the council were aware of and facilitated payments to O’Driscoll and his enforcer David O’Reilly

O’Driscoll is a drug gang leader, originally from Ballyfermot, with 20 convictions.

He was also once found keeping a female jaguar and an African serval in his garage in Ballyfermot.

The High Court was told Reilly ran O’Driscoll’s drugs business across a number of housing estates in Ballyfermot.

During the case, Benedict Ó Floinn SC, on behalf of Cab, said: “The court could ask itself what is going on in this city when not only construction companies but Dublin City Council was paying men like O’Driscoll and Reilly so that desperately needed housing could be built.”

Commenting on the findings of the report, Dublin City Councillor Mannix Flynn called for its immediate and full publication as “a matter of huge public interest”.

“I find it alarming that seemingly a blind eye was turned by Council management after two council employees were questioned by gardaí over such a serious matter,” he said.