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Heroin dealer was caught red-handed off bus
Gardaí were waiting for an Aran Island man as he alighted a bus from Dublin at Galway Coach Station with over €4,000 worth of heroin while armed with a knife.
Colm Joyce (45), a native of Kilronan, Inis Mór pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last July to having 27.591 grams of heroin in his possession at Bus Aras, Ceannt Station, Galway, on July 3 last year for sale or supply to another.
He pleaded guilty also to having a flick knife in his possession on the same date.
Garda Tom Doyle gave evidence at the sentence hearing last Friday that Gardaí apprehended the accused as he alighted a bus from Dublin at 2a.m. at Galway Coach Station and took him to Galway Garda Station where he was searched.
Joyce denied the heroin found on him was intended for sale and he claimed he carried the knife because he was a fisherman.
Det. Doyle said messages on Joyce’s mobile phone suggested he was a drug dealer as there were various messages on it involving deals with drug dealers.
The value of the heroin, he said, was €4,138. Joyce told Gardaí he had paid €1,000 for the drug himself.
Det. Doyle confirmed Joyce had worked as a fisherman and was a native of Kilronan where he was currently residing.
At the time of his arrest Joyce was using heroin himself and he had 21 previous convictions with some of those for drugs offences, Det Doyle added.
The most recent, he said, was last October when Joyce received a nine-month sentence for drug dealing and a three-month sentence for possession of drugs. The offence date was August last year and those two sentences were currently under appeal.
The other previous convictions included ones for drug dealing in 2008, assaults, drink driving, possession of drugs and criminal damage.
Defence barrister, Brendan Browne said Joyce was a chronic heroin addict. He was in debt at the time of this offence and was going to use some of the proceeds from the sale of the heroin to pay his debts and keep some for himself.
Det. Doyle confirmed Joyce was a heroin addict and had looked very unhealthy at the time. “He looks a little better this morning,” Det. Doyle observed.
Mr Browne said Joyce had made several attempts in the past to rehabilitate but had always “fallen off the wagon”.
He said Joyce was now clear of drugs for the last eight months and for the first time in his life he was now in a position to face his drug addiction and would be attending a residential treatment programme in eight weeks’ time, subject to a successful assessment in Cuain Mhuire.
Mr Browne said Joyce had been away fishing for the previous two weeks but he was attending a counsellor weekly to address his addiction issues.
Judge Karen O’Connor said she wanted written confirmation from Joyce regarding the counselling and the treatment course he was proposing to attend and she adjourned sentence to this coming Friday’s court for him to provide the necessary proofs to the court.
Some 60 tourism companies from Ireland attended ‘Flavours of Ireland’ 2022 in London last week – including Connemara Wild Escapes, DK Connemara Oysters and Killary Fjord Boat Tours.
‘Flavours’ is Tourism Ireland’s annual B2B tourism workshop, where tourism companies from Ireland meet and do business with top global inbound tour operators.
Now in its 20th year, ‘Flavours’ took place in the Guildhall, in the City of London, and was attended by around 100 global inbound tour operators who deliver business from all over the world, including the United States, Mainland Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.
‘Flavours’ provides an excellent opportunity for the participating tourism providers from Galway and Ireland to highlight and sell their tourism product and build valuable relationships with the key decision-makers in attendance.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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From the Galway City Tribune – The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has asked Galway City Council to roll back material alterations to the new City Development Plan proposed by councillors.
In July, elected members voted through a raft of changes to zonings in the Draft City Development Plan 2023-29, which went out on public display.
But the Planning Regulator has now warned City Hall that many of the proposed changes do not comply with the OPR’s recommendations, and are contrary to national planning guidelines.
The OPR specifically highlighted problems with proposals to rezone as residential land deemed at risk of flooding.
Anne Marie O’Connor, Deputy Regulator, wrote to the Council’s Planning Department outlining the OPR’s fresh advice on the changes to the draft plan proposed and approved by councillors.
The draft plan will come before elected members again this month.
Councillors will be asked to row back on some of their previous material alterations, which ran contrary to advice of the OPR.
Ms O’Connor said the OPR welcomed many of the changes made by the City Council in its draft plan. She said, however, that the OPR “has a number of outstanding concerns relating to the response of the planning authority to its recommendations and to a number of proposed material alterations relating to the zoning of lands”.
These relate to changes that conflict with national and regional objectives for compact growth; with legislative requirements regarding climate action and core strategies; and with rezoning land at risk of flooding.
The OPR highlighted a dozen or more material alterations by councillors that are “not consistent” with the National Planning Framework for compact growth.
These include re-zoning of land from agricultural or recreational and amenity to residential.
The changes voted on by councillors, the OPR noted, were done against the advice of the Council’s Chief Executive Brendan McGrath.
The OPR said the changes proposed by councillors represented a “piecemeal approach” to zoning and were “inconsistent” with national policy.
These comments related to proposed rezoning of land at Rahoon; Dublin Road; Quarry Road, Menlo; Ballindooley; off Circular Road; Menlo village; Roscam and Barna Woods.
The OPR also raised “significant concerns” over five material alterations proposed for residential zonings of land at Western Distributor Road; Terryland; Menlo Village; Headford Road and Barna Woods which are located within flood zones.
The approach by councillors “may place people and property at unnecessary risk from future flood events”, the OPR warned.
Ms O’Connor told planners that if the draft plan ignores the OPR advice or is at odds with its recommendations, the Council Chief Executive must inform the OPR in writing the reasons for doing so.
Save Roscam Peninsula in a 33-page submission to the draft plan echoed many of the concerns outlined by the OPR.
The Council has pencilled in four dates in November and December to approve the plan.
It will meet on November 21, 24 and 28 and December 1 when material alterations will be voted on individually.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune, November 4. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
JOHN HARNEY from Mountpleasant first joined the Ballinasloe Horse and Agriculture Show Committee, all of 60-years ago, on April 24, 1962. Both John and the show are still going strong as they celebrate their 183rd event on this Sunday. Here, he looks back on his involvement with this iconic show through the years.
THE Ballinasloe Show back in the early 1960s was going well with both the Showgrounds and Duggan Park both used for running the competitions.
My first introduction to the show was stewarding the pony competitions in the Mountpleasant end of the Duggan Park with the rest of the GAA field being used for trade stands.
At that time, it was a very big show with horses, ponies, cattle and sheep, pigs and fowl – also there was a big garden and farm produce section as well as a home craft and baking section with flowers and plants supported by a very large women’s committee.
At that time, showjumping took place in the afternoon with the top riders in the country taking part. I was elected Chairman at the AGM in 1975, a position I held for ten years.
During that time, the Duggan Park Committee approached the Show Committee for a piece of the showgrounds behind the GAA Stand for dressing rooms.
This was brought up a number of times at our committee meetings, and at first, the view was that the Duggan Park Committee would buy the ground.
However, after much deliberation it was decided by the Show Committee to ‘give the ground’ for the sum of £1 with the proviso that the dressingrooms could be used on show days by the local ICA to do catering for the event.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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