The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that "new evidence has emerged" that some residents have cultural roots in the town of Rathkeale, County Limerick, Ireland, and some own property there.
On 6 October 2011, a traveller gang broke into al-Harati's house in Rathkeale, as his wife Eftaima al-Najar was in Tallaght hospital with one of their kids.
He was born near Mallow in County Cork, the son of John Gillespie and Eliza Sheehan, and was educated at Rathkeale.