FAMILY'S LEGACY OF TRAGEDY FROM THE BOXER

DRUG pushing has taken 18 years from the life of Tommy "The Boxer" Mullen,
but for one Dublin mother it has taken much more the lives of four of her
children.

Mary Connaughton and her husband Frank lost four of their five children to
the killer drug in the space of 2 years.

And today in their city centre flat all they have left to remind them of
their children are the pictures and the memories. But the greatest reminder
is the drugged look they grew to know so well in the eyes of their own
children, and those of children in the streets.

It depresses Mary to see other youngsters go down the same path her
children strayed down but feels she can do nothing to stop the process
repeating itself.

``I know to look at them because I saw it before. But what I can say to
them. It's none of my business,'' she says.

Frankie, Elizabeth, Roderick and Leslie were the names of her children who
got tangled in the web of Heroin. Now their cremated ashes are resting in
the Garden of Memories in Glasnevin.

The couple's only son to escape the horror of addiction was Alex who left
the inner city and its drug culture for England. He even brought his
brothers Frankie and Roderick in a bid to help them beat their addiction.
But it was to no avail and they died while in England.

All Mary's children died before they reached the age of 35. And Elizabeth
was just 28 when the killer drug took her life. A clot formed in
Elizabeth's left leg and she finally died from a heart attack.

Mary can feel nothing but anger for drug pushers like The Boxer who was
jailed for 18 years in Britain yesterday.

She says his jailing was no loss to anyone and wishes he was given more
time to serve. But she adds angrily: ``The thing is there's more of them.
They're like mushrooms. One goes down and another comes up''.