A Lotto winner has revealed he made three offers to buy a home seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau from gang boss Liam Byrne.
The man, who asked not be named, won a six-figure sum last year and wanted to buy No 2 Raleigh Square in Crumlin, South Dublin, for his niece and her children.
The property, which had been estimated as worth more than €1million – failed to sell after a year at an asking price of just €400,000.
The Lotto winner said: “There were four people viewing the house the day we were there in November.
“One made an offer of €200,000. The other two walked away. So I asked the auctioneer what would buy the house and he said anything exceeding €200,000. So I offered €250,000.”
After he upped his bid to €300,000, the house then went from being on auction to tender.
The man added: “They wanted to know everything about us. We sent all the details and they never bothered getting back on to us.”
Then two weeks ago the man upped his offer to €400,000 but still hasn’t heard back.
Asked if he had any concerns about purchasing a house once owned by mobster Byrne, the man said: “I didn’t see any problem with it. But I was speaking to a guard and she said, ‘You need your head bashed off a wall’.
“My thing is you live and you let live. OK, they’ve [Byrne] done their damage, they got their money out of the house.
“But the house is just lying idle there. I have my two nieces with us here and one has three kids so I was thinking of putting the offer in and letting them live in it. I don’t even have a parking ticket.
“But that’s neither here nor there. I offered them the money they are looking for and now I’m reading they can’t sell it.”
The last correspondence from the auctioneer in January said: “My clients advised they are still considering the offers that have been made and will be in touch.”
Dublin City Council was urged to buy the house but has no interest in acquiring the property.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said the house should now be given back to the community.
She added: “That would send a clear message out to criminals that their activities will not be tolerated in our communities.
“Disadvantaged communities have paid a disproportionate price at the hands of organised criminals and it is only fair proceeds seized by CAB are returned to them.”
Byrne’s Raleigh Square home was upgraded with his blood money to include a gym, jacuzzi and a panic room.
The CAB, in its High Court proceedings against the Byrne mob, named him as its leader.
The High Court ruled assets worth €2.7million –cars, jewellery, cash and the Raleigh Square property seized by CAB – were the proceeds of crime.
Byrne, who is based in England, is now Kinahan’s No2 after his brother-in-law Thomas “Bomber” Kavanagh, 53, was jailed for 21 years for conspiring to import €36million worth of drugs.
Byrne’s brother David was shot dead at the Regency Hotel attack in Dublin in February 2016.
Read more: EU vow to seize Daniel Kinahan's assets in Europe under new proposed law
Read more: Luxury home seized from crime boss Liam Byrne fails to sell after a year on the market
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