Drug dealer free to get haulage licence
On September 10, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said he will strip licences from hauliers convicted of serious crimes.
In cases of murder, sex crimes, drugs smuggling, money laundering or people trafficking, the ban will last for five years from the date of conviction.
He outlined the new regulatory regime in tandem with the publication of a report into how Louth transport operator Boylan, understood to be a drug smuggler and Garda informant, was granted a five-year licence last year.
The report found transport officials and the gardaí misunderstood their own responsibilities and should not have allowed Boylan to pass the “good repute test”.
Correspondence between the two parties ran parallel to a controversial Garda decision to drop charges against Boylan after €1.7 million of drugs was found in his yard.
The report found the gardaí and the department had enough information to deny Boylan a licence but as it was given it could not be revoked without universal regulations. And even under the new regime Boylan will be off the road for 18 months.
This is because Boylan pleaded guilty to accepting €750,000 worth of cocaine and heroin at a court sitting in February 2006. He will be able to apply for a new licence on February 2011.
The department said the decision to strike on a five-year ban for serious crimes and a two-year ban for lesser relevant offences was based on legal advice.
Speaking on radio, Mr Dempsey said the new regulations brought Ireland into line with European directives. He said he would not know how many other convicts were operating haulage licences until figures came in next month.
If hauliers with recent convictions fail to surrender licences they face fines of up to €500,000 and/or three years in prison.
The report into the Boylan licence was conducted by John Farrelly and found the minister had no culpability. It said staff had misinterpreted the law and the attitude of the courts towards rejected licences. The gardaí had misinformed the department on Boylan’s convictions on different occasions.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charles Flanagan said he welcomed the regulations but the Farrelly report amounted to an admission of serious lapses within the department.
“Minister Dempsey was presiding under a very loose regime,” he said.
