Brendan John Mullin (born Jerusalem, 31 October 1963) is a former Ireland international rugby union football player. He played as a centre[1] and has been described as "one of the last great Irish players of rugby’s amateur era".[2] After retirement from rugby, Mullin worked for Powerscourt Investments.[3] He subsequently joined Bank of Ireland. He was arrested in 2021 and, after a lengthy investigation, brought to court in October 2024 to face charges relating to the theft of more than €570,000 from the bank.[4] He was found guilty in November 2024 and jailed for three years.[5][6]
Mullin was also a noted hurdler, winning the All-Ireland Schools senior boys’ hurdles in 1981 and 1982 and with a personal best of 14.41 seconds for the 110m hurdles.[8][9]
Rugby career
Mullin had 55 caps for Ireland, scoring 17 tries and 1 conversion, 72 points in aggregate. His debut was at the 16–9 loss to Australia, on 10 November 1984, in Dublin, and his final cap was at the 36–12 loss against France, on 10 June 1995, at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, in Durban, South Africa.[10] He was for many years Ireland's record try-scorer.[2]
Mullin played at three Rugby World Cup finals, in 1987, 1991 and 1995.
He played in nine Five Nations championships: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1995.
Mullin was arrested in Dublin on 21 September 2021, and brought before the Dublin District Court on foot of an investigation by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau. He was charged with nine counts of theft under the Theft and Fraud Offences Act, accusing him of stealing €578,000 from Bank of Ireland between 2011 and 2013. Mullin, who had been a managing director of Bank of Ireland private banking, was also accused of deceiving two people to sign a payment instruction to make a gain for himself or causing a loss to another, and with five counts of false accounting.[12] He made no comment when informed of the charges and was released on bail after agreeing to surrender his passport.[13]
The trial, which began on 15 October 2024,[14] took three weeks and ended in early November 2024.[5] Mullin was found guilty of 12 of the 14 charges that were presented, including several of counts of stealing more than €570,000 between 2011 and 2013, and a number of charges relating to false accounting practices. The judge directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty on a further count of deception.[5] He was sentenced on 25 November 2024 to three years in prison.[6]
