Former solicitor stole €2.8m from clients

A former solicitor described as a "devout Christian" stole €2.8m from client accounts in his family’s law firm and used the money to fund investment properties and buy stocks and shares.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring said Ruairí Ó Ceallaigh, aged 42, had used the money for the “ultimate in gambling” and had “gambled on the gamble”.

Det Sgt Paschal Walsh told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that one theft involved €1,551,366 from a client who had left his estate to the archdiocese of Dublin.