Dealer caught with cocaine was on suspended sentence

Gardaí in the Macroom area caught a man dealing €11,000 worth of cocaine at a time when he had a suspended jail term hanging over him for another drug-dealing offence.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin acknowledged that Ciarán Silke had taken significant steps to deal with his circumstances and would have been “pushing an open door” in seeking a suspended sentence but for the fact that he had the suspended term hanging over him at the time.

The judge said that an entirely suspended sentence could not be imposed. He remanded Silke in custody until February 21.