A bit harsh I think. Maybe he should have talked.
Immigrants generally get much harsher sentences that our own. Most white Irish by accident of birth taximen caught dealing/transporting drugs get little more than a telling off.
Dealing cocaine to undercover gardaí can get you represented by TtnH and your licence back:
A la Barry Burns, (73).
Cab driver who dealt cocaine keeps licence
Barry Burns called Garda objection to him carrying on working a ‘pure vendetta’
Barry Burns pictured leaving the Four Courts Monday after he appeared before Dublin District Court. Photograph: Collins Courts
Mon Apr 16 2018 - 19:02
A judge has ruled that a Dublin cab driver, who was successfully prosecuted for cocaine dealing from his car, can have his taxi licence restored and carry on working.
An action brought by taxi driver Barry Burns, 43, of Bath Road, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, was opposed by Garda Superintendent Thomas Murphy of the Dublin region traffic department, which includes the carriage office.
The superintendent said tests last year showed Mr Burns’s drug use was “off the scale” and put it to him that he was “a danger to the public”.
However, Burns described that claim as “pure vendetta” and insisted he had stayed off drugs since he was prosecuted in court in 2016 for drugs offences.
Burns had been stripped of his taxi licence following that prosecution but was then allowed hold on to it and work provisionally, pending the outcome of his appeal heard by Judge Deirdre Gearty at Dublin District Court.
Giving her ruling on Monday she said she was restoring his licence.
B
arrister Patrick Jackson told Judge Gearty that in February 2015, Burns was stopped in a car in possession of €70 worth of cocaine.
On a date in February the following year, undercover gardai made four calls to his phone and later that day Burns provided them with seven deals of cocaine worth about €550, counsel said.
In December 2016, the case came before Judge John Lindsay at Swords District Court.
He was prosecuted for possessing drugs for his own use as a result of the first incident but the second incident led to a more serious charge for having cocaine for sale or supply. He pleaded guilty to the charges from the outset.
Mr Jackson said that at the time father-of-three Burns had been going through family difficulties and began using drugs.
Those charges were struck out and he was spared a criminal conviction as a well as a sentence after he had gone to counselling, and provided blood and urine samples to show he was off drugs. He also donated €1,000 to charity.
Garda Superintendent Murphy told Judge Gearty that Mr Burns was using his taxi at the time and there was a “tick list” amounting to several thousand euro owed to him by customers.
Philip Kavanagh of the Tacsaí Tiomanaí na hÉireann union gave evidence in the appeal and told the court he had known Burns about 10 years and was comfortable with him remaining a taxi driver.
He said at the time Burns had told him of his difficulties but since then he had perked up and seems be trying to get on with his life.
Counsel provided the court with documents showing that tests proved his client has stopped taking drugs.
Mr Burns told the court he had split with his ex-wife and he paid half the mortgage in the family home where he no longer resides. He also paid educational and medical expenses.
He said at the time of the incidents he had a lot of pressures and owed €3,500 in legal fees and was “up to my eyes”. He also agreed with counsel he was suffering from anxiety.
He said that he began using cocaine and was “not in a good place”. He told Judge Gearty he was stupid and had let his family down.
Since the prosecution he continued to go to drug testing, he said. All 106 urine samples had been negative, he said.
Cross-examined by Garda Superintendent Murphy, it was put to him that hair follicle tests in 2017, which covered 12-month periods, showed he tested positive for drug use and one was “off the scale”.
However, the taxi driver claimed that was because drugs remained in his system a long time and he denied continued drug use. He called the Garda objection to his licence a “pure vendetta” and said the superintendent wanted to take away his livelihood.
The court heard the latest follicle drug test in January was negative and that covered the previous 12-month period.
Burns told the court he had not come to Garda attention since and rejected claims that it would be unsafe for members of the public to use his taxi. He also said there were other people driving taxis who had criminal convictions.
This other cocaine using, fat f**k should have used TtnH:
Taxi driver who stole from passengers fails in appeal against losing licence
Patrick Lyons (45) of Ventry Road, Cabra, was convicted of stealing about €4,300
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Patrick Lyons leaves the Four Courts after a Dublin District Court action. Photograph: Collins Courts
Tom Tuite
Mon Nov 25 2019 - 18:12
A Dublin taxi driver who stole thousands of euro from passengers after taking their bank cards has failed in a legal bid to get his public service vehicle licence restored.
Patrick Lyons (45) of Ventry Road, Cabra, was convicted earlier this month of stealing approximately €4,300 from passengers and given a two and a half year suspended sentence.
He had lodged an appeal against the revocation of his taxi licence by the Garda Carriage Office, which came before Dublin District Court on Monday.
Lyons told the hearing he had been blamed after a botched drug deal and had to pay up. He said he was heavily abusing cocaine and alcohol at the time.
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At times on the verge of tears, he begged Judge Michael Coghlan for another chance, insisting he had changed. "I should not have done what I done, I know that"," he said.
Refusing the application, Judge Coghlan said a taxi licence was privilege not a right.
The public would be placed in danger given Lyons’s background and his friendship with “undesirable elements”, he ruled.
