Portlaoise Court: Man sent forward to circuit court on €8.1 million worth of drugs charge
Portlaoise Courthouse
A man accused of possessing approximately €8.1 million worth of drugs in Co Laois was unrepresented at last week’s sitting of Portlaoise District Court due to the ongoing solicitors dispute over criminal legal aid payment reforms.
The defendant Thomas Ryan (40), Abbott Court, Holycross, Thurles, Co Tipperary was asked by Judge Andrew Cody whether he was legally represented as the case was in court for the service of a book of evidence.
Mr Ryan replied: “My solicitor Aonghus McCarthy is not here today over the issue of solicitors withdrawing their services.”
Judge Cody reminded Mr Ryan that as a condition of his bail he had been remanded on his own bail bond of €100 and an independent surety of €5,000. He said the defendant’s mother, Margaret Ryan, had been approved as surety and that she needed to be in court to sign that bond.
Mr Ryan said he did not know what had to be done. He said his mother did not drive and asked Judge Cody to put the case back until later in the afternoon to allow him to travel to Tipperary to get his mother and to bring her back to court to sign the bond.
When the case resumed in the afternoon, Garda Murray served a book of evidence on Mr Ryan, who is charged under section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act (more than €13,000 worth of cocaine) on 25 October last yearâ¯at Srah, Rathdowney. He is also charged under sections 3 and 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act (possessing cocaine for his own use and for sale or supply) at Kilnaseer, Rathdowney on 28 October last year.
Noting the approximate value of the alleged drugs that were found amounted to €8,120,000, Judge Cody sent Mr Ryan forward to the 28 July sitting of Portlaoise Circuit Criminal Court and advised him that he must notify the prosecution within 14 days if he intended to use an alibi in his defence.
He went on to grant free legal aid and assigned one solicitor and two barristers to the case.
