THE BIG REPUBLICAN MONEY MEN
Sunday February 05 2006
They have left their republican pasts well behind, but they are still bound together by a shared dream of a United Ireland.
Tom "The Bomber" McFeely:
Former IRA hunger striker in Long Kesh who was jailed for wounding an RUC officer. Now a Dublin 4-based millionaire property developer, he stands to make millions after buying a pivotal property in advance of a €500m extention in the Square Shopping Centre in Tallaght.
Sinn Fein's finance director is believed to own property worth more than €2.5m. He was convicted of IRA membership in the Eighties and went on to become Sinn Fein's treasurer. He is one of two co-directors of numerous companies, seven of which were prosecuted in the District Court for failing to keep proper books.
The IRA's former brigade leader in Dublin, he spent five years in the Maze for firearms offences in the Seventies. No longer thought to be active in the IRA, he was involved in a series of security and taxi businesses: his security company, Kilmartin, regularly provided bouncers for various events. Most of the companies listed in the Dublin companies office are now in liquidation or dissolved.
Possibly amongst the wealthiest fugitives on Sinn Fein's list of "on-the-runs". He is a successful businessman, who has lived in Dundalk since he skipped bail on ammunition charges in 1974. He founded a lucrative gaming machine manufacturing business which supplies equipment all over the world. He is a director of numerous other businesses and owns a string of commercial and private properties. He was named during an IRA trial in 1987 as a wanted IRA member, an accusation which he denied. He also says the outstanding charges he faces in the North were "trumped up".
The former vice-president of Sinn Fein left the party to become a trade union leader and later government trouble-shooter. His financial career was launched when he was appointed to ICC bank by Ruairi Quinn, then minister for finance. He went on to chair the Bank of Scotland Ireland. He is involved with the property developer Pat Doherty and is a director of Harcourt Developments Ltd. He was drawn into investigations into the stg£26m Northern Bank raid when some of the stolen cash was recovered in the home of a business associate. Mr Flynn denied any involvement and released his documents and files to the CAB.
