Eight years for painter caught with €86,900 worth of ecstasy

A Dublin painter and decorater has been jailed for eight years for possession of 'ecstacy' worth over €86,900.

Paul Kelly (25) of Lough Conn Road ,Ballyfermot was arrested by plain clothes gardaí who found close to 8,700 ‘ecstacy’ pills in his car on Ormond Quay in the city centre on March 03, 2007.

Detective Garda Brian Quirke told prosecuting counsel, Mr Fergal Foley BL, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, that he was on foot patrol with a colleague when he saw Kelly leave a pub and put money into a parking metre beside a parked car on Ormond Quay.

He said he and his colleague were suspicious of Kelly and decided to search him and his car for drugs.

Det Gda Quirke told Mr Foley that he found nothing on Kelly’s person but found two electronic weighing scales in the front interior of the car. Kelly told them there were "yokes" or ‘ecstacy’ tablets in the backseat and boot of the car.

Det Gda Quirke said he found bundles of tablets wrapped in green plastic with a street value of €10 per pill and a total value of €86, 980.

He agreed with defence counsel, Mr Gerard O’Brien SC (with Mr Luigi Rea BL), that Kelly was acting as a drugs courier for individuals he feared and owed a €6,000 debt because of his cocaine addiction at the time.

Det Gda Quirke also agreed the father of two had lost his job as a painter and decorator "two Christmases" before the offence and his family didn’t know about his work as a drugs courier.

Judge Patricia Ryan suspended the final two years of sentence because Kelly had made efforts to rehabilitate himself on a private drug treatment programme and had resecured his old job.