Gardaí were in for a shock when they stopped Kildare resident in his car

By Eimear Dodd

A current Kildare resident who was pulled over after gardai noticed he was holding a phone while driving was storing over €330,000 of the drug in his home.

Dylan Reilly (25) with an address in 2024 of Riverview, Ballycanew, Gorey, Co. Wexford pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of cannabis and cannabis resin for sale or supply.

An investigating garda told Aideen Collard BL, prosecuting, that gardai were on patrol as part of an operation at the Carrickmines Retail Park on October 28, 2024 when they noticed a silver Ford Focus driving into a parking space.

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Gardai spotted Reilly was holding a mobile phone and went to get his details. There was a strong smell of cannabis in the vehicle and searches of Reilly, the passenger and the car were carried out.

€50 worth of cannabis was found on the male passenger, with Ms Collard noting this person was not before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.  

When the car was searched, €1,700 of cannabis was found in a clear container, along with a weighing scale and clear plastic bags for packing the drug.

Reilly immediately took ownership of the car and the drugs. He was arrested and made admissions during interview.

A house he was renting in Camolin, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford was searched in the early hours of the following day.

Cannabis herb and cannabis resin, with a combined value of over €334,000, were found during the search, along with a weighing scales, a ticklist and grinders.

During interview, Reilly said he was a cannabis user, had a drugs debt and was given a car by others to carry out drug-dealing on their behalf to pay off the debt.

He has five previous convictions, all for road traffic offences.

The garda agreed with Desmond Dockery SC, defending, that his client took responsibility for the drugs in the car.

It was further accepted that Reilly took a car from his supplier when his own car broke down, increasing his debt from around €2,000 to €6,000.

The garda agreed with Mr Dockery that his client was told his home was needed to store drugs for a short period of time, that his debt was not being cleared fast enough and he was threatened.

It was accepted that Reilly believed the threats and refused to give any names out of fear.

Reilly is now living in Naas, Co. Kildare, complied with his bail conditions, and has not come to recent garda attention.

Mr Dockery said his client started to use cannabis as a teenager and has recently been engaging with addiction counselling. A negative urinalysis was provided to the court, along with several references.

He said his client started to use drugs as a teenager and was later “coaxed” into dealing small amounts of the drug to repay his debt. He said Reilly “fell into temptation” by accepting the car, which increased his debt.

Mr Dockery asked the court to consider his client's early guilty plea, co-operation and efforts to address his addiction.

Counsel said his client is now engaged, has been working and appreciates “he won't be going back to work any time soon” as he recognises he is facing a custodial sentence.

Remanding Reilly on continuing bail, Judge Orla Crowe adjourned the finalisation of the case for one week.