Gardai target two rising big players in Dublin drug dealing world



GARDAI are targeting two young drug dealers in Ballymun who have become the main players in the north Dublin suburb.
The pals are major targets of Operation Domino, which has been targeting the next generation of dealers.

Sources say the 26-year-old and 29-year-old have a network of youngsters flooding Ballymun with drugs.

One of the men is a 26-year-old from the Poppintree area of Ballymun. He has avoided any major convictions and has risen through the ranks in Ballymun.


He has a network of contacts in the criminal world, helped by his interest in sulky racing, including a close associate of Ballyfermot criminal Derek ‘Dee Dee’ O’Driscoll.

The 26-year-old runs the Ballymun operation with his 29-year-old pal, who has links to one of Ireland’s most notorious prisoners. The prisoner, from Inchicore, can’t be named as he is before the courts.

The 29-year-old was involved in a violent attack on a man in Ballymun three years ago.

Other associates of the Ballymun dealers include convicted drug dealer Dano Doyle, whose house was shot at in Ballymun in November.

That incident is not believed to be connected to Doyle’s links with the Ballymun gang.

The gang have links to criminal figures in Coolock, Finglas and the north inner city.

The 29-year-old also has connections to Stephen ‘Ned’ Kelly who is serving life for the murder of Ian McConnell on December 11, 2005.

The killing sparked a feud in Ballymun between associates of Kelly and Ian’s brother Thomas ‘Nicky’ McConnell, a convicted drug dealer who was released from prison last year.

McConnell was also photographed with businessman Jim Mansfield Jnr in recent months. Mansfield was arrested in December in connection with an alleged assault in Dublin last year. He was released without charge.

Mansfield has been warned by Gardaí over a threat to his life. The threat is understood to be coming from associates of traveller criminal ‘Fat’ Andy Connors, who was shot dead in Dublin in 2014.