DUBLIN

“I’LL BET HE HAD no idea that fellow was one of them. If he had even known the man was in the Dail, let alone connected to the new government, I’d say he would never have agreed to pose for that snap. I know him. He’s an ordinary decent criminal. He has his boundaries. His reputation. Still, I feel he should apologise.”

The words of a Dublin gangland figure when he found out that veteran criminal Dean Russell had posed for a photograph with newly elected independent Irish parliament member Barry Heneghan.

Mr Heneghan, a member of the Regional Independent Group now entering coalition government with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, was attending a meeting of the board of Kilmore Celtic FC, a Dublin football club, of which Mr Russell is chairman.

“Like I say to my lads all the time, watch out, you can never be too careful,” said the gangland figure.