The former home of senior Kinahan crime gang member Seán McGovern, bought by Dublin City Council from the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) almost five years ago, remains vacant due to “physical threats” to workers who have attempted to renovate the property.
Cab seized the house at 219 Kildare Road in Crumlin in March 2019 after the High Court the previous year ruled it had been bought with the proceeds of crime. In 2020 the house was sold to the council for use as social housing.
However, it has remained unoccupied and boarded up since, with steel panels, which are now rusted, sealing the doors and windows.
Councillors were last week told “a number of contractors” had attempted to undertake work to refurbish the semidetached house so it could be allocated to a council tenant, but had been “physically threatened”.
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Proposals to abandon plans to renovate the property for social housing and instead use it as “some sort of community hub” were now under consideration, Robert Buckle, senior engineer with the housing maintenance division, told a city council meeting .
However, it is understood senior local gardaí are keen the property would be returned to housing use, and a number of families on the social housing waiting list who are aware of the property’s history have expressed an interest in being housed there.
Independent councillor Pat Dunne said the house must not be left unoccupied any longer. “Not only is it an eyesore on a prominent corner, but it is a reminder to people of the criminal past of certain individuals. We can house a family there quickly, so I’m asking that it be no longer kicked to touch but it be dealt with.”
Land Registry records show McGovern bought the house in 2015. The High Court heard it was purchased for €150,000 through electronic fund transfer from an Investec Bank in Mauritius, care of a trust company, and €247,000 was spent on renovations. Both sums were found to be the proceeds of crime.
Despite the extravagant refurbishment costs, the house now requires extensive repairs. Just days before it was seized by Cab, it was broken into and substantially damaged, with kitchen and bathroom fittings ripped out and removed. It was subsequently boarded up.
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McGovern, was arrested in Dubai last October on foot of an Irish extradition warrant. He remains in prison there awaiting the next stage of the process. McGovern was injured in the Regency Hotel shooting in February 2016, and is facing charges over the December 2016 murder of Noel Kirwan and for directing organised crime.
Mr Kirwan was an innocent man who was gunned down as part of the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
The US Department of the Treasury in 2022 described McGovern as “Daniel Kinahan’s adviser and closest confidant”. It added: “Evidence indicates that all dealings with Daniel Kinahan go through Sean McGovern.”
