Ben Dunne's IRA kidnap, arrest in Florida, and 'thanks, big fella': Episodes in a life lived large
Ben Dunne with his wife Mary on October 22, 1981, shortly after they were reunited after he had been kidnapped and held for ransom for a week by the IRA. Picture: Lensmen/Irish Examiner Archive
Would Ben Dunne’s life have taken a different trajectory if he hadn’t been kidnapped? Would we now be living in a different Ireland, totally oblivious to a culture of corruption that pervaded elements of business and politics for decades?
Dunne was kidnapped by the IRA in October 1981. He was held in captivity for seven days, most of the time hooded, never knowing whether the end was near. When he was released near a remote graveyard in South Armagh, he threw himself into the nearest open grave. The kidnappers gave him three bullets as souvenirs of his captivity, as if he had been on an exotic holiday.
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