Francis O'Brien (born 7 April 1943) is an Irish former

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

politician. He was a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from 1989 to 2011, elected by the

Agricultural Panel The Agricultural Panel is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Agricultural Panel elects eleven senators. Election Article 18 ...

Political career

O'Brien is a native of Latton, near

Ballybay Ballybay () is a town and civil parish in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town is centred on the crossroads of the R183 and R162 roads. Geography The town is the meeting point for roads going to Monaghan, Castleblayney, Carrickmacross and ...

, in

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of Border Region, Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town ...

. He was a member of

Monaghan County Council Monaghan County Council () is the local authority of County Monaghan, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning ...

from 1979 until 2003, serving as Council chairman in 1986 to 1987. O'Brien was elected to the Seanad in 1989, but did not contest the 2011 Seanad election.

Business career

In 2006, according to an article by the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'', O'Brien obtained loans amounting to millions of euros in order to buy of agricultural land outside the village of

Inniskeen Inniskeen, officially Inishkeen (), is a small village, townland and parish in County Monaghan, Ireland, close to the County Louth and County Armagh borders. The village is located about from Dundalk, from Carrickmacross, and from Crossmagl ...

in the hope that it would be rezoned for housing. However, the Inniskeen Action Committee opposed the development and, despite several Fianna Fáil councillors voting for the rezoning, the motion was defeated (12 votes to seven) by

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

councillors. By 2010, the land was worth a fraction of the purchase price. During a subsequent hearing at the

commercial court Business courts, sometimes referred to as commercial courts, are specialized courts for legal cases involving commercial law, internal business disputes, and other matters affecting businesses. In the US, they are trial courts that primarily or ...

in 2010, it was revealed that O'Brien owed around €13 million to various creditors, but only had assets amounting to €430,000. It was also revealed that

Irish Nationwide Irish Nationwide Building Society was a financial institution in Ireland from 1873 to 2011. One of the country's oldest financial institutions, it was originally called the Irish Industrial Building Society; it changed its name in 1975 when it had ...

had loaned O'Brien €4.47 million in 2006 to purchase the land in Inniskeen.

Criminal conviction

Background to arrest

In January 2012, a Cavan based

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both ...

inspector named Michael Heelan approached O'Brien for advice after he was accused by Louth County Council of illegal dumping. Heelan had previously been reprimanded by the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

of improper disposal of used veterinary items (needles, surplus blood, empty bottles, etc ...) and was worried the latest allegations would effect his employment. On 13 April 2012, O'Brien contacted Heelan and claimed that more used veterinary items belonging to him had been discovered illegally dumped in

Carrickmacross Carrickmacross () is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The population was 5,745 at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, making it the second-largest town in the county. Carrickmacross is a market town which developed around a castle buil ...

. O'Brien offered to help Heelan in covering up the find for a sum of money and contacted him several times over the following 2 weeks to negotiate payment terms.

Garda investigation

Fearing for his job, Heelan then contacted the Gardai, who arranged for further phone calls of payment negotiations with O'Brien to be recorded. On 27 April 2012, Heelan was fitted with a covert recording device, which was being monitored by Gardai, and met O'Brien to discuss the handover of the supposed used veterinary items. O'Brien then made a handsfree call in his car to the person who allegedly discovered the items, and was directed to a shed on the north side of Carrickmacross (in Tullyvaragh Lower townland) where the items could be retrieved. Gardai then moved in and arrested O'Brien. On 24 April 2013, O'Brien was charged with demanding €100,000 with menaces and remanded on bail.

Sentencing

In November 2013, O'Brien was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a further year suspended, after pleading guilty to a charge of demanding €100,000 with menaces from Michael Heelan at Carrickmacross on 27 April 2012. Judge John O'Hagan described the extortion attempt as "an abominable scheme".

Co-accused acquitted

In a separate trial, on 9 October 2015 the man O'Brien allegedly called from his car to get the location of the illegally dumped items was acquitted by the direction of the judge of charges of blackmail, extortion and demanding money with menaces. The prosecution's case consisted of Heelan asserting that the man's name had appeared on O'Brien's phone and testimony from Garda Superintendent Traynor, who was listening to the live audio from the covert recording device, that he instantly recognised the man's voice as he had known him in a personal capacity for many years previously. However, the judge ruled that although the Gardai had legal authorisation to make covert recordings of conversations within the car, they did not have permission to intercept telecommunications via the device, therefore any evidence gathered from O'Brien's phone conversation was inadmissible. As a result, the prosecution had no evidence to offer and the case was dismissed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Francis 1943 births Living people Fianna Fáil senators 20th-century Irish farmers Members of Monaghan County Council Members of the 19th Seanad Members of the 20th Seanad Members of the 21st Seanad Members of the 22nd Seanad Members of the 23rd Seanad People from Ballybay Agricultural Panel senators