Nathan McDonnell 'looking forward to co-operating' and getting out of prison as soon as possible

Nathan McDonnell had wire, screws, and two metal plates inserted during surgery to stabilise his broken jaw last week. File Picture: Domnick Walsh

Prominent Kerry businessmen Nathan McDonnell, jailed for helping the deadly Mexican Sinaloa cartel to import Ireland's biggest ever crystal meth seizure, will now co-operate with the system and focus on getting out of prison as soon as possible, his lawyer said.

McDonnell, 44, was jailed for 12 years for importing crystal meth and facilitating an organised crime gang in a plot with the cartel to traffic crystal meth through Ireland.

One week after that sentence was imposed, his solicitor, Padraig O’Connell said that his client was eager to work with the system and get out of jail as soon as possible.

“He's just looking forward to co-operating with the system and getting out, on whatever basis, as soon as possible,” Mr O’Connell said.

McDonnell remains in Portlaoise Prison where he was attacked by another inmate and required surgery to a broken jaw in the days before his sentence hearing.

The Tralee businessman had wire, screws, and two metal plates inserted during surgery to stabilise his broken jaw last week.

He is now making a “satisfactory recovery from his injuries” following the assault in prison in the days before he was sentenced in the Special Criminal Court last Friday.

“He is making a satisfactory recovery. But these things take time,” Mr O’Connell said.

Mr O’Connell had called for a security plan for McDonnell in prison following the attack — when he was “set upon” by another prisoner near his own cell on the A wing.

However, he has not been informed of any beefed up security plans for his client.

'Appropriate plan to protect him'

“I am not seeking to be informed. All I require is that the appropriate plan be put in place to protect him,” Mr O’Connell said.

However, one prison source said that it was widely known that McDonnell was under threat by some factions of the Kinahan cartel in prison prior to the attack and was astounded that it was possible.

The threat was so widely known that there had been talk up to two months previously of moving McDonnell to the Midland’s Prison to remove him from those allegedly threatening him, a source said.

The man who allegedly attacked McDonnell, a notorious gangland figure, had caused trouble previously from another prison to such an extent that he was moved to Portlaoise.

I was astounded this could happen, and with such high profile prisoners. The injuries were serious

“And it’s gone very quiet about what happened since. There’s a shroud of secrecy around it all.” 

The Irish Prison Service said that it does not comment on individual prisoner cases, or on security or operational matters.

'Turned a blind eye'

McDonnell’s time in prison may be more onerous for him than for other prisoners, the Special Criminal Court heard at his sentencing last week.

McDonnell, who had been the director of 11 companies, had stored a machine containing €32.4m of methylamphetamine — or crystal meth — in his family business, the popular Ballyseedy Garden Centre in Tralee.

Garda intelligence led customs officers to stop the container with the machine when it was brought to the Port of Cork for export to Australia.

Angle grinders were used for hours over two days to break into the machine, within which they found bags of white powder, found to be crystal meth, with an Irish street value of €32.4m.

McDonnell had arranged for the machine's export to Australia, but denied knowledge of what was in it and said he had “turned a blind eye”. 

He said he was to be paid €150,000 for storing the machine, which he had agreed to due to his "dire" financial circumstances at the time.

Justice Melanie Greally said in McDonnell’s sentencing at the Special Criminal Court that she considered the offending “exceptional”, and she set a headline sentence of 21 years for drug importation and 12 years for facilitating an organized crime gang.

However, McDonnell, a father of three with no previous convictions, had quickly pleaded guilty to the charges of importing drugs into Cork on October 16, 2023, and facilitating the activities of a criminal organisation between that date and February 12, 2024.

His sentence was reduced to 12 years for drug importation and six years for facilitating an organised crime group, to be served concurrently.