CITY TRIBUNE
Student drug dealers remind judge of ‘Breaking Bad’
College students in Galway are becoming drugs dealers as a means of funding their way through college, a court has been told.
“It reminds me of ‘Breaking Bad’,” Judge Mary Fahy said at Galway District Court after hearing evidence against three NUIG students who, in separate and unrelated cases, pleaded guilty to drug dealing offences.
The last of the three students to be dealt with by the court was third year mechanical engineering student, Fintan Canavan (22), with an address in student accommodation at Dún na Coiribe, Headford Road, who received a six-month prison sentence.
He pleaded guilty to having €4,080 worth of cannabis for sale or supply to others on March 25, 2016.
Gardai searched his girlfriend’s address at The Stables, College Road, Galway and found the drugs along with a digital weighing scales and €2,000 cash in her bedroom.
Canavan was not there at the time of the raid, but he presented himself at Galway Garda Station three weeks later. He was interviewed and admitted the drugs, the weighing scales and the money were his. He admitted the drugs were for sale or supply to others and also for his own use.
Handing a letter from Canavan’s professor and other references into court, defence solicitor Gearoid Geraghty said his client was a third year mechanical engineering student at NUIG.
“Well, isn’t that embarrassing? How many students from NUIG were in here today?” Judge Fahy asked.
Mr Geraghty said his client had since got away from the drugs scene completely and the results of a series of clean urine tests were handed into court to prove he was now drug-free.
Mr Geraghty said a conviction would have a serious impact on his future employability and he pointed out his client had no previous convictions.
Judge Fahy said this was a serious offence involving a very significant amount of cannabis.
Garda Orla Flatley, prosecuting, said that while he had co-operated in the Garda investigation, Canavan had come to Garda attention since.
She said he had admitted selling drugs to his friends at the time of this offence. “He said he wanted to make money for college,” the Garda said.
“It seems to be a growing trend among students,” Mr Geraghty commented.
“Well, if it’s a growing trend, they will have to expand Castlerea Prison,” Judge Fahy replied.
She said Canavan, like the other two students who had been before the court earlier that day for drug-dealing, had been given an opportunity to go to college and they had abused that privilege out of sheer greed. She said they were coming into court expecting to be dealt with leniently because they were going to college.
“Well, I’m sending out a message today,” the judge said, before sentencing Canavan to six months in prison. Leave to appeal the sentence was granted.
Earlier in the day, third year chemistry student, Sean Curran (21), from Co Meath, was the first of the students to be dealt with.
He pleaded guilty to being found in possession of cannabis, Ecstasy and Ketamine, at his student accommodation in Dun na Coiribe on December 14, 2016. He also pleaded guilty to having the cannabis for sale or supply to others on the same date.
“He is a chemistry student and he’s involved in this. It reminds me of ‘Breaking Bad’,” Judge Fahy said.
Gardai also found €575 cash, the proceeds of drug dealing, during the raid on Curran’s accommodation.
Defence solicitor, John Martin, said his client was supplying student friends with cannabis and was using it himself. He said the quantities of the other drugs were very small and his client was not addicted to them but he was a regular cannabis user at the time.
He said Curran was now drug-free and was presenting with clear urine tests.
Reading references which were handed into court, Judge Fahy said she wanted to hear from prosecuting Garda Frank Hand, who was not present in court before finalising the matter.
The judge said Curran came from a wealthy background in Meath and there had been no need for him to deal in drugs.
She adjourned sentence to October 8 for urine analysis test results, a Garda behaviour report and for Garda Hand to give his opinion.
The second student to be dealt with was Jack McDonnell (23), with an address in Dún na Coiribe, who is a law graduate and currently studying for his LLB. The court heard he had signed for a package containing €1,936 worth of cannabis on May 16, 2016.
Customs officials alerted Gardai in Galway that a package containing cannabis had come through the postal system and both Gardai and Customs carried out a controlled delivery of the drugs to McDonnell’s address.
Gardai returned to the address moments later and found the drugs in McDonnell’s bedroom.
His solicitor, Sean Acton, said somebody else had asked his client to sign for the package.
Garda Flatley said McDonnell told her he knew the package contained drugs when he signed for it.
She said he had not come to Garda attention before or since this incident.
Mr Acton said at the time of the offence, McDonnell had taken a year out after getting a corporate law degree but he was now back studying for his LLB in NUIG.
He said his client did not take drugs and references were handed into court.
Mr Acton said his client had made a huge mistake and he asked for sentence to be adjourned for 12 months, adding he would be shocked if his client came to Garda attention again.
Judge Fahy said that in order to consider the case fully she needed proper testimonials and proof that McDonnell was in college and doing the course he said he was doing. She adjourned the matter to next week’s court for that purpose.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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