{"id":366160,"date":"2026-03-26T12:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/366160\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:24:09","slug":"domestic-abuse-victim-outraged-as-attacker-applies-to-get-hse-job-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/366160\/","title":{"rendered":"Domestic abuse victim ‘outraged’ as attacker applies to get HSE job back"},"content":{"rendered":"

The development comes after Mackessy walked free early in January – having served nine months of a one year sentence for the assault<\/p>\n

Emma Hallahan photographed in Dungarvan.(Image: Mary Browne)<\/p>\n

A domestic abuse survivor is outraged after her attacker applied to return to his HSE job.<\/p>\n

Pharmaceutical porter Anthony Mackessy (42) walked free from prison in January, having served a sentence for a brutal assault in which he held his ex Emma Hallahan at knifepoint and told her he\u2019d kill her – at her home in Dungarvan, Co Waterford on January 13, 2024.<\/p>\n

This paper has learned that Mackessy has applied to get his job back at University Hospital Limerick – and has been told he first needs to undergo a Garda vetting process.<\/p>\n

Emma says she is devastated by the development, and cannot believe the Hospital would even consider Mackessy after what he did to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel extremely strongly about this after studying and working in healthcare. It\u2019s outrageous.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not in this just to protect myself. This is obviously a big problem if others are back in employment at this hospital after a conviction. I\u2019m all for rehabilitation for criminals but domestic abuse is serious and overlooked too easily and does not rule out the fact that these people are a danger to society also,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people don\u2019t understand is there is always a history with these offenders and it\u2019s not a once off incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to a query from this paper, the HSE said: \u201cHSE Mid West is unable to comment on matters that may reveal information about identifiable individuals, breaching the ethical requirement on us to observe our duty of confidentiality. It should be noted that all people employed by the HSE who work with or have access to vulnerable adults or to children, are subject to Garda vetting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The development comes after Mackessy walked free early in January – having served nine months of a one year sentence for the assault.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Anthony Mackessy. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This paper has learned that Mackessy has applied to get his job back at University Hospital Limerick. <\/p>\n

Speaking of her ongoing fear of Mackessy, who has been ordered to stay away from her, Emma previously told of how she had tried to get out of the home she\u2019s stuck in, but didn\u2019t have enough time before her abuser was walking free once more.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince he’s been released, when I walk out my front door I\u2019m looking over my shoulder. If I see a car passing by that\u2019s similar to his, I kind of automatically think it’s him. Where I\u2019m living is pretty isolated. I just feel that I\u2019m very alone where I am and also I constantly have my door locked now. Like I can\u2019t leave my front door open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told that he\u2019s on probation and that he won\u2019t do anything but that doesn\u2019t take away my fear. It\u2019s very easy to say he\u2019s been warned against this and that but when you\u2019ve been abused and assaulted by someone like that – and they\u2019ve threatened to kill you, that fear is not going to be taken away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically for me to feel safe I need to be somewhere where he doesn\u2019t know where I live anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November Mackessy, who eventually pleaded guilty to assault, was jailed to just one year behind bars for his shocking crime. However, thanks to standard remission and time served having gone into custody in April – he walked free on January 5th this year.<\/p>\n

A court heard how Mackessy beat Emma and dragged her up and down the stairs by her hair – before holding a knife to her throat and threatening to kill her. The brave survivor also previously told us how Mackessy even liked to bring her to famous murder sites – including the home of murder victim Tina Satchwell in Youghal, Co Cork.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would take me to sites where women had been murdered. So he would take me to sit outside Tina Satchwell’s house. He always wanted to take me to Schull where Sophie Toscan Du Plantier was murdered. All the signs were there. I remember the detective on my case said to me \u2018if you don\u2019t get out of this relationship, you will be another number.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The development comes after Mackessy walked free early in January – having served nine months of a one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[40751,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-366160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-domestic-violence","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}