Clare cocaine dealer at 'top of the pyramid' of West's drug scene has jail time cut
Tony McInerney at his trial at Ennis District Court in 2021. File picture
A drug dealer at the "top of the pyramid" of the west coast's drug scene who was caught red-handed running a "cocaine factory" has had his jail time cut by two years on appeal.
Cocaine dealer Tony McInerney was jailed for 12 years by Judge Brian O'Callaghan at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court in May 2021 after he was caught "red-handed" mixing cocaine when gardaí raided a property outside Ennis, Co Clare.
McInerney, 27, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply at Kilfilum, Ennis, Co Clare, on September 23, 2020, and to possessing crime cash on the same date.
Judge O’Callaghan imposed an 11-year prison term for the Section 15 (a) Misuse of Drugs Act offence and further imposed a three-year jail term to run consecutively to the 11 years for the possession of €4,500, the proceeds of criminal conduct, contrary to Section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.
Judge O'Callaghan then suspended the final two years of the cash charge against the father-of-two.
The judge said McInerney, of Glenina, Gort Road, Ennis, had "inflicted untold harm, destruction, pain and suffering on not just the people of Clare but people in this society in general through his criminal dirty drug-dealing activities”.
McInerney's legal team appealed the sentence, arguing the headline, pre-mitigation sentence of 14 years on the drugs charge was too high and that the two sentences should have run concurrently.
His lawyers also argued that not enough weight in mitigation had been given to his guilty pleas and to his expression of remorse.
At the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Mr Justice George Birmingham said the three-judge court would quash the original sentence and re-sentence McInerney to a total of 10 years' imprisonment with no portion of either sentence suspended.
Mr Justice Birmingham said gardaí obtained a search warrant for an address at Kilfilum — a residence with an attached garage — and discovered cocaine was being prepared by three people, one of whom was the appellant.
Gardaí told the sentencing court that McInerney was wearing orange gloves and had a bag of cocaine in his hand at the time of the raid.
Gardaí also found mixing agents, tubs, bags, a weighing scale, a knife, a blender and €2,500 in cash used to rent the garage. The value of the cocaine was estimated at just over €50,000.
A follow-up search at a property in Quin, Co Clare, yielded a further €2,000.
Mr Justice Birmingham said McInerney had a previous drugs conviction from 2013 — for which he received a suspended sentence — when a firearms offence relating to a pipe-bomb was taken into account.
The sentencing court heard from gardaí that McInerney, who was unemployed and not on social welfare, had been the target of the search by gardaí in Clare.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the trial judge viewed the two offences as "standalone, separate and distinct offences that were unrelated" when he imposed consecutive sentences.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the three-judge court was in disagreement with the trial judge regarding consecutive sentences being "either required or appropriate".
The judge said the cash found in McInerney's possession "was there to facilitate the drug activity", which was a "pattern of ongoing activity interrupted by gardaí". Mr Justice Birmingham said the cash was an "integral part of the operation and not separate to drug-dealing".
However, the judge said the appellant's claim he did not get enough credit for his guilty plea had "no merit" and noted McInerney already had a previous drug possession conviction when he was caught "red-handed" at the garage.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the headline sentence of 14 years was "certainly high relative to other similar sentences" and set 12 years as a new headline sentence before reducing that to 10 years' imprisonment with no part suspended.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the court would remove the suspended portion of the three-year crime cash sentence and amend it to run concurrently to the drugs jail-term, leaving McInerney with a 10-year sentence back-dated to September 23, 2020, when he was first taken into custody.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
