Judge warns drug dealer of ‘damage he could do’

A former business owner who was found with over €5,000 worth of drugs for sale and hidden in a paint bucket in his van, has been jailed for six months as a judge warned of the “outrageous” damage he could do to children by selling drugs.

Unemployed for almost seven years since his steel fabrication business closed mid-recession, Niall Griffin, aged 49, was still living in “relative comfort” at his Jeremy Hall apartment on Nicholas St, Limerick, according to gardaí who had him “on their radar”, Limerick District Court heard.

On foot of confidential information, Sgt Donal Cronin told the court that gardaí from the Divisional Drugs Unit searched Griffin’s apartment and found drug paraphernalia on May 15 last year.