Showpiece of drug lord’s vulgar wealth for sale expecting to reach in excess of €500,000

It’s fitting that the only remnant of John Gilligan’s empire at his equestrian centre in Kildare is a calendar from 1996.

It was a year that marked both the zenith of his monstrous drugs empire and its nadir.

By June of 1996 his colossal drugs business had imported €55m worth of cannabis, amassing him around €20m in profits. All that in the space of just 30 months, after he was released from Portlaoise Prison where he had joined forces with fellow criminal Brian Meehan.