Like him or loath him, John Devane has again hit the headlines recently after offering to mediate with those involved in the City's long-running gangland feud, but he is about to blow open a paedophile sex ring scandal in Limerick with the release of his book in the coming months.

"I was an innocent child at the centre of a paedophile ring in the City. I was used and abused and sold for sex and raped by people from all walks of life including the legal profession, accountancy and doctors. When I was 11, two men began selling me for sex in Limerick and Dublin."

Like many of the people he now represents in a court of law, John Devane said he too had a hard life right from the start.

"I grow up on the Roxboro Road in Merrion Avenue on October 1st, 1962. Six weeks after I was born my father died. We lost our house. Ten months later my mother lost her eldest son in a bycycle accident. She had six more children to rear but I was left alone a good bit," he said.

The 45-year old solicitor admits he hid his demons at the bottom of a glass for many years but that Alcoholics Anonymous, for which he is full of praise, has helped him stay sober for six years now. Known for building up a large criminal law practice, John said he also has a thriving civil law practise for which he provides a listening ear to his family law clients.

"I do have a listening ear and I like helping people. I'm not always the one who wants to be heard," he said.

Some may not know it, but his family has an interesting link between Irish patriotism and Hollywood acting legends, which he recounts with a real sense of pride and happiness.

"My father was a nephew of Thomas Ashe, the great Irish patriot and my father was also a third cousin of Gregory Peck, whose grandmother was also Ashe. I've been in touch with Gregory Peck's wife and family and they'd love to meet up over here some time. I had an opportunity to meet him once but I didn't follow up on it," John said with regret.

"A close friend of the family, Paddy Mullins, took me to Edward Street on my 17th birthday and he made me enrol in the Army. It was a turning point in my life. I learned discipline after years of seeking attention from my family," he said.

Three years later John became a DJ on local radio. He also found work as a hospital porter, a bar manager, a security man and a salesman before his life took another dramatic twist.

"When I was 27, I sat my Leaving Cert through a social welfare course. I sat the exams in one year and I was offered Law by Trinity College, UCG and UCC."