Addict jailed for agreeing to distribute €50,000 worth of ecstasy

A drug addict who agreed to hold, transport and distribute almost €50,000 worth of 'ecstasy' tablets to pay off a €6,000 debt has been sentenced to seven years in prison by Judge Katherine Delahunt.

Damien Costello (28) of Chieftans Drive, Chiefttans Way, Ballbriggan, was stopped by gardaí on the M1 motorway where they found €9,440 worth of the tablets in a lunchbox under the driver’s seat of the Fiat Punto he was driving.

He immediately told gardai that they would find a further haul in the bedroom of his family home. Gardaí then found a further €40,470 worth of "ecstasy" tablets and a small quantity of cannabis there.

Costello had no previous convictions and had a cocaine habit that cost him €1,000 per week.

Garda James Muldowney agreed with Mr Niall Durnin SC, defending that Costello’s drug addiction caused him to lose his job but he has since made "serious efforts" to deal with his problem.

Mr Durnin told Judge Delahunt that his client had no urine analysis to prove he was dealing with his addiction because he could not afford to get tested.

Judge Delahunt accepted that Costello’s early admissions and co-operation with gardaí meant there were "special and exceptional circumstances" not to impose the minimum mandatory jail term of 10 years.

She suspended the last two years of the sentence on strict conditions.