Armed gardai forced to spend Christmas protecting 'The Mole'

DETECTIVES will have to spend Christmas Day protecting a notorious Traveller criminal who is to be released from hospital after 17 months.

Anthony 'The Mole' McDonagh has been under 24-hour armed garda surveillance in Blanchardstown's Connolly Memorial Hospital since an attempt on his life in 2010.

The Herald has learned that the 45-year-old will be leaving the hospital to spend time at his home in Dunsink Lane in Finglas at Christmas but his armed garda detail will continue to protect him.

A source explained: "It is going to be a very grim Christmas Day for a couple of officers who will be spending their time - away from their families - protecting McDonagh in a halting site.

"Mr McDonagh's life is still under serious threat and therefore he will remain under 24-hour-protection. It will actually be a dangerous job for the gardai who will be protecting him."

'The Mole' has been under garda protection for the past year after surviving an assassination attempt July 2010.

Sources say that McDonagh is "desperate" to get home for Christmas but he is still gravely ill and is only alive because his shooter's automatic pistol jammed as he was about to finish off McDonagh during the gangland attack.

McDonagh was blasted five times by a lone gunman in broad daylight on the River Road in Finglas. The suspect is from Ballymun. McDonagh and his nephew, Kieran McDonagh (26) were attacked as they sat in their white Ford van after being stopped at what they thought were council roadworks.

The gunman approached the van and began firing, hitting Anthony McDonagh in the side and chest.

His nephew tried to flee to safety but was shot in the shoulder. The gunman's firearm jammed, allowing the McDonaghs to flee on foot.

In a sign of just how dangerous the situation is for 'The Mole', his close associate Tom McDonagh (49) was murdered in Ballymun in September.

Linked

Gardai believe Tom McDonagh was targeted by the same drugs gang who shot 'The Mole' and that his murder may be linked to the pair's friendship.

Earlier this year, the Herald revealed that that the taxpayer has forked out over €600,000 to pay for 'The Mole's' round-the-clock protection and care in hospital.

With the average bed costing over €900 per day, 'The Mole' ran up medical bills of around €313,000 in the last year alone.

That's on top of the cost of keeping an armed garda by the criminal's bedside 24 hours per day, at the cost to the taxpayer of over €183,000 per year.

In 2006, McDonagh was sentenced to three years in prison after carrying out shootings on two men in 2002.

He paid compensation of €38,000 to his victims - John Joseph McDonagh and Martin Ward.

In July of this year, a person claiming to be the cousin of 'The Mole' made a death threat to the injured man's rivals - on live radio.

The chilling warning was issued by a man who called a Dublin radio show, days before the first anniversary of the attempted murder of McDonagh. 

10pc fall behind with mortgage

ONE in every 10 mortgage borrowers has now fallen behind with their repayments, new figures show.

Credit ratings agency Moody's said that the level of arrears has soared since its July reports.

Arrears of 90 days jumped to 10.14pc in the three months to end of October, the agency said.

The new report for October was the first time that arrears have risen over the 10pc level.

More than 773,000 homeowners have mortgages which total about €114bn.

But Moody's said that close to 78,500 of them are having difficulty meeting their repayments.

Last month the Central Bank said that 8.1pc of mortgages were 90 days or more in arrears by the end of September, compared with 7.2pc at the end of June. The agency said that falling house prices would increase the size of losses the banks would have to absorb on defaulted mortgages.

Peter's home at last ... after tough 4,500km bike ride for SVP

PETER Galvin cycled 4,500km to raise money for needy families helped by St Vincent de Paul this Christmas.

The 37-year-old, who lives in Dundrum, returned home from the gruelling long range bike ride in the last few days.

Now he's planning to get further involved by volunteering for the charity.

"I started in Malmo, Sweden and wanted to end up in North Africa, in Morocco," said Peter.

But fate intervened in the French town of Montpellier on his 45-day cycle when thieves made off with everything except his bike.

"I lost my passport and all my gear, but I was going into Spain where the weather was warmer and just had to buy a few things," he said.

He reached Gibraltar but the loss of his passport meant he had to be content with getting within five miles of his final destination, Morocco.

Peter, who runs his own cycling and hiking holiday company, said November was generally a quiet month so he embarked on the long trip alone. His brother joined him for a spell in Montpellier and his gear was stolen from a rental car.

"I did something similar for a similar charity previously and have so far raised around €4,000 for St Vincent de Paul from the trip," Peter added. The money will be gratefully received by the Society, which is being backed by The Herald for its annual Christmas appeal.

Budget changes to social welfare payments like rent supplement, fuel allowance, and the back to school clothing allowance will have a huge impact on people's ability to maintain a reasonable standard of living, according to SVP. 

1,500 women here have cancer-scare implants

ALERT: Private hospitals used cheap silicone 

AROUND 1,500 Irish women have breast implants that are at the centre of a cancer scare in France.

Experts in France fear 30,000 women could have the implants and are the subject of concern after eight women with the implants were diagnosed with cancer.

The implants in 1,000 of the women in France have ruptured, adding to the concern.

However, the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) said there was "no current evidence" to link the implants to health risks.

It confirmed that three Irish private hospitals and clinics used the implants, manufactured by Poly Implant Prosthesis (PIP), in the past for breast augmentation procedures.

The implants are made of substandard silicone and there have also been concerns that they may be more likely to leak.

French authorities will decide tomorrow if it requires for the 30,000 implants to be removed and if the operation would not put the women concerned at a greater risk.

The IMB has said that "there is no current evidence of health risks associated with the implants".

"There is insufficient evidence to indicate any association with cancer," it added.

The statement followed assurances by the French National Cancer Institute that there is no link the cancer cases.

Nonetheless, Dr Dominique-Michel Courtois, who belongs to an association of victims of medical accidents in France, said that he expected health authorities to recommend getting rid of the implants.

This would be done on a voluntary basis and operations may be funded by the state.

Private

"We have been trying for more than a year to ensure that women with these implants can have them removed without having financial difficulties."

French government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse added that state healthcare would pay for implant removal operations.

Meanwhile, the IMB urged clinics and hospitals which have used these products in the past to contact their clients as a precautionary measure.

In Ireland, the implants were only used for breast enlargement in private practices.

The Harley Medical Group in Dublin confirmed yesterday it had used the implants in the past, however it said that there was no safety issue.

Concerns over the silicone used in PIP implants emerged last year when the company shut down. Prosecutors began to investigate PIP for fraud because the implants appeared to be twice more likely to rupture than the industry average.

Prosecutors said that the company had been using a cheap, industrial-grade silicone instead of medical grade.