Dublin man given seven and a half years for possession of arms

A Dublin man was jailed for seven and a half years by the Special Criminal Court today for having five revolvers and 64 rounds of ammunition at an apartments complex in the south Dublin area last January.

Dean Byrne (aged 22), of Coolevin, Ballybrack, Co Dublin pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of five ME .38 Compact G revolvers and 64 rounds of .380 inch M.E. Gum ammunition at The Ramparts. Loughlinstown, Co Dublin on January 4 last.

Detective Superintendent Diarmuid O’ Sullivan., Special Detective Unit, told the court that gardaí were involved in an operation monitoring the storage and movement of firearms in south county Dublin last January.

Two men were seen leaving an apartment complex known as The Ramparts at Loughlinstown and when their car was stopped two guns and ammunition were recovered.

Later a taxi arrived at the apartment complex and when gardaí entered an apartment there they found five people, including Dean Byrne.

Byrne had a hold allbag which was found to contain five revolvers and ammunition. During interviews he said that he owed a favour to someone who had helped him clear a €20,000 debt and he was collecting the bag as a favour to that individual.

He also told gardaí that he was holding the weapons "for an organisation which no longer exists in the eyes of the Government".

Detective Supt O’ Sullivan said that Byrne had a previous conviction in the Circuit Crimijnal Court for theft and had pleaded guilty to a firearms offence in the Circuit Criminal Court in April last year but had not turned up for the sentence hearing and was unlawfully at large at the time of his arrest in Loughlinstown.

Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, said that Byrne had pleaded guilty to "a very serious offence".

The court sentenced Byrne to seven-and-a-half-years' imprisonment backdated to January.