A 44-year-old man charged in connection with the seizure of \u20ac100,000 of cocaine in Roscommon on 16 August has been remanded in custody with consent to bail.<\/p>\n
Patrick Irwin, of Carrowgubaddagh, Ballisodare, Co Sligo was granted bail by Judge Ciaran Liddy at a special sitting of Sligo District Court this evening.<\/p>\n
He is accused of the unlawful possession of over 1kg of cocaine for the purpose of sale or supply at Keadue West, Keadue, Co Roscommon.<\/p>\n
He had been held in custody since the seizure of the drugs as part of an intelligence-led operation into the activities of an organised crime group based in Sligo.<\/p>\n
The investigation was carried out by garda\u00ed from the Sligo\/Leitrim area, supported by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.<\/p>\n
Garda Conor McNulty of Sligo Garda Station gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.<\/p>\n
Irwin received the first charge at 1.58pm and the second charge at 4.21pm and made no reply to either charge after caution.<\/p>\n
Inspector Angela Cummins told the court the State’s application was to remand him in custody.<\/p>\n
He then made an application for bail and told Judge Liddy he “didn\u2019t really understand the bail pack too well” as he was not legally represented.<\/p>\n
Inspector Cummins said it was accepted that Irwin had no legal representation in court and told the judge that “all efforts were made to explain it to him”.<\/p>\n
She said 63 efforts had been made to contact a solicitor on Irwin\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n
Of those, seven welfare calls were made to Mulholland solicitors in Dundalk, and Irwin had spoken to Mr Mulholland today.<\/p>\n
Irwin said he was “disadvantaged” not to have a solicitor in court and said he had been co-operative with garda\u00ed during questioning.<\/p>\n
Judge Liddy noted the garda objections, the evidence alleged against Irwin and the garda concern that if Irwin was granted bail he would commit further offences.<\/p>\n
Bail was granted on condition Irwin provides an independent surety of \u20ac30,000, \u20ac10,000 of which must be in cash which must also be approved by garda\u00ed to allow them examine and identify its provenance.<\/p>\n
Other bail conditions include that Irwin must sign on each Wednesday and Sunday at Sligo Garda Station between 9am-9pm, stay out of any licenced premises and not interfere with any witnesses.<\/p>\n
Judge Liddy remanded Irwin in custody with consent to bail to Mullingar District Court at 11am on Monday, 24 August.<\/p>\n