A GOVERNMENT TD has suffered a fractured shoulder after having his phone stolen in a “nasty mugging” in London.
Fianna Fail’s Malcolm Byrne was the victim of a mugging in England’s capital on Friday night.
The TD had been in the UK celebrating St Patrick’s Day and was heading back to his hotel after a night at the theatre when the shock incident took place.
While walking, someone knocked him from behind to steal his phone, causing him to fall and fracture his shoulder.
The injury will see the politician needing a sling for his arm for a number of weeks.
At the time of the attack, he was using Google Maps on his phone – which the thief grabbed and ran off with.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Deputy Byrne said while the injury would be “awkward”, he would be fine with a sling for a few weeks.
He said: “It’s a matter of life that these things happen, and unfortunately, I will have the awkwardness of having my arm in a sling for a few weeks, but I can live with it.”
In London, 70,137 phones were reported stolen last year alone.
This marks a 40 per cent increase compared to the previous year, with the total number of thefts more than tripling since 2020 when 20,000 phones were reported stolen.
Thefts are reportedly costing Londoners over €80 million a year, though the real figure is likely even higher since many thefts go unreported.
Wexford native Byrne revealed that he is now on his way back to Ireland after the incident.
The Fianna Fail politician is currently serving as a TD for the newly created Wicklow–Wexford constituency.
Byrne was first elected to the Dail in a 2019 by-election, although he lost his seat in the 2020 general election.
He returned to the Oireachtas later that same year as a senator until he was re-elected to the Dail last November.
Deputy Byrne is co-chair of the Irish Chapter of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which advocates for reforming democratic countries’ relationships with China.
