The General ‘prevented kidnap of Bono’s child’
By Seán McCárthaigh and Nicola Tallant
A NEW book on the life of murdered crime boss Martin Cahill sensationally claims that The General once prevented the kidnapping of one of Bono’s children.
Frances Cahill, a daughter of the late gangland criminal who is studying to be a solicitor, has revealed that her father stopped the planned kidnap attempt on the U2 star’s daughter, Jordan, for a €6m ransom after learning of the plot by another leading criminal associate.
The controversial claim is made in a new book written by Ms Cahill, in which she offers an alternative view to the many "urban myths" that surround her father.
She maintains that Cahill refused to take part in the kidnap with a gang who had staked out the rock star’s luxury home in Killiney, Co Dublin, for several months.
"He told them it was a bad idea," writes Ms Cahill. "Martin had nothing against Bono’s family. They had never done him any harm and he wasn’t going to get involved."
She recalls her dad kissing her goodnight then leaving their house with his gloves and torch to raid the homes of other sleeping families.
She also remembers how he would hurl bottles at squad cars from the balcony at their Rathmines flat while she and her siblings would throw rocks. But she insists he was a great father.
She describes her parents as a "happy couple" who rarely fought. And she says her father was a strict dad who insisted his children never used bad language or answered back. He never raised a hand to his children, she claims and wore a pioneer badge on his collar.
He insisted his children went to school: "My father didn’t like us to be a part of things he felt to be inappropriate to our upbringing."
Her father rarely gave his children pocket money and "always encouraged us to earn a few bob instead".
However, the story about the alleged kidnap attempt was yesterday branded as "sad and deluded" by one of the gardaí who knew Cahill intimately. Former Garda murder squad detective Gerry O’Carroll described the book as "a hate-filled rant against the police through the rose-tinted glasses of his daughter, Frances."
"It is a very shoddy and pathetic money-making exercise," said the retired senior garda.
He claimed any suggestion that Cahill had intervened to prevent the kidnapping of Bono’s daughter was "arrant nonsense with not a scintilla of truth."
Speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline programme, Mr O’Carroll said Ms Cahill had glossed glibly over many of the violent, brutal crimes which her father was known to have committed.
"To portray him as a mixture of Robin Hood and Mother Teresa is totally disingenuous and a complete and total fallacy."
However, Mr O’Carroll acknowledged that the General’s tough upbringing at an industrial school in Daingean, Co Offaly, was probably responsible for his decision to turn to a life of crime. He also accepted that Cahill had never engaged in drug-dealing and was a good father to his children.
Ms Cahill lives in Bray, Co Wicklow, with her husband and children. Martin Cahill, My Father (€12.95) goes on sale this weekend.
However, the author has refused to comment on the book before her scheduled appearance on the Late Late Show with Pat Kenny on October 12.
http://www.examiner.ie/story/?jp=EYEYMHSNGB&cat=Ireland&rss=rss2
I'm glad none of it ever went down, true or not.
