Longford man fined after drugs found in bin
A Longford father of three who hid over €1,000 of drugs in a bin shed at the back of a house in the county town has been fined less than half of that estimated sum.
Martin McDonagh (34) with an address at 2 Congress Terrace, Longford pleaded guilty at a recent special sitting of Longford District Court to the unlawful possession of cannabis on October 22 2021.
An accompanying Section 15 sale and supply charge was withdrawn as details of case were heard before Judge Vincent Deane.
Defence barrister Niall Flynn BL, said his client was a man who suffered from depression and was currently expecting to become a father for a fourth time.
He asked the court to consider imposing as lenient sentence as possible given Mr McDonagh’s personal circumstances.
Judge Deane said he was bemused somewhat by the fact that while the overall drugs found at the property was €1,050, the maximum fine he could impose was €500.
He described Mr McDonagh’s plea as being late and described the incident as being at the upper end when considering sentence.
He consequently imposed a €400 fine, giving Mr McDonagh six months to pay.