Items found in Cahill garden not valuable and stolen after he died

Gardaí carrying out a clean-up operation on a house seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau from the family of Martin Cahill are satisfied that stolen items found at the south Dublin property on Tuesday are not valuable.

The items, including a number of chalices and some silverware, were stolen in separate robberies in recent years, long after Cahill was murdered in a 1994 gun attack. Gardaí said the items were not the proceeds of any robbery carried out by the well-known criminal.

They were found in a bag under a pigeon loft in the rear garden at the Cahill family home in Cowper Downs, Rathmines, Dublin.

The Cab took possession of the house from Cahill's family last week.

Gardaí and civilian workers are currently cleaning the property and preparing it for auction, where it is expected to fetch over €1 million. When the items were discovered on Tuesday, gardaí decided to conduct a full search of the rear and front gardens to see if any stolen property had been hidden there.

Officers using metal detectors checked the gardens yesterday. A more thorough search than planned of the interior of the house will also be conducted in the light of Tuesday's find.

Cahill was shot dead by republican gunmen in August 1994, shortly before the IRA ceasefire.