Teen crack dealer sentenced

A 16-year-old crack cocaine dealer has been detained for 28 days at the Dublin Children's Court.

The teenager pleaded guilty to possessing €500 worth of crack cocaine for a sale or supply in a public area, in Ballymun, in Dublin, on a date last October.

Judge Clare Leonard heard that while he had a drink and cannabis problem, he did not use crack cocaine, which he admitted he was selling to make money.

Garda Trevor Bulger had told the court that the teenager admitted that he had the drugs “for sale”.

“He said he got involved to earn money,” he said.

The teenager had been placed on supervised probation earlier for other public order charges.

The boy's mother had made an application to the council to be rehoused in a different area to help divert her son from crime.

However this failed as a result of the boy's “anti-social behaviour”.