Kerry businessman ashen-faced as he is sentenced for importing State’s biggest crystal meth haul

McDonnell, aged 44, who cultivated an image as a successful businessman, speaking on TV and radio about his enterprises and constantly expanding his business empire, was actually in “dire” financial straits with liquidators and bailiffs drawing close, the Special Criminal Court heard.

This financial difficulty made him vulnerable and he was “exploited,” he said, and was somewhat unwittingly drawn into a major drug trafficking plot that would change his life forever.

McDonnell said that he was to be paid €150,000 to store a machine, imported from Mexico, at his 50-year-old, three generation family business Ballyseedy Garden Centre outside Tralee.

McDonnell denied knowledge that €32.4m worth of crystal meth was stashed in the machine. 

But he had ‘turned a blind eye’ to any hidden content and that wilful indifference has destroyed the life he once had.

The drugs — 540.3kg of crystal meth in plastic bags — were so expertly concealed in the large yellow industrial electromagnetic separator machine that without Garda intelligence, it is unlikely that it ever would have been intercepted.

An X-ray and two days of work using angle grinders to penetrate the interior of the machine were required before the drugs could be found.

That machine and its contents, stored at his family business between October 2023 and February 2024, must now haunt McDonnell’s dreams and waking nightmares.

A person, referred to in court as a named individual, who is known for extreme violence and has been investigated for murder, was allegedly directing McDonnell in the trafficking operation.

This named individual wanted the machine shipped to Australia and made it McDonnell’s problem to get it there, the court heard.

The named individual would bang on McDonnell’s office door and come into his place of work with demands.

He was “scary when he got angry”, McDonnell told gardaí.

The situation quickly become “like a cancer,” he said.

'Cross to bear'

That person ‘hung him out to dry’ and “that’s my cross to bear,” McDonnell said in a Garda interview.

Submachine guns, magazines and ammunition were found in an outhouse at a Kerry property after the seizure of the machine at the Port of Cork.

McDonnell eventually admitted his involvement to gardaí out of fear for the safety of his own wife and children, the court heard.

The Special Criminal Court heard a collective and sudden intake of breath when Justice Greally said that she considered the offending “exceptional” and set a headline sentence of 21 years for drug importation and 12 years for facilitating an organized crime gang.

But McDonnell, a father-of-three with no previous convictions, had quickly pleaded guilty to importing drugs into Cork on 16 October 2023 and facilitating the activities of a criminal organisation between that date and 12 February 2024.

And this early plea helped reduce that headline sentence.

His sentence was reduced to 12 years for drug importation and six years for facilitating an organised crime group.

The sentences will run concurrently and are back-dated to when he went into custody on February 16, 2024.

Acknowledged as a “devoted” father, Justice Greally said that the most punitive part of his sentence would be missing his young sons grow up.

Other mitigating factors included that he had no financial interest in the drug trafficking operation other than the €150,000 he was due to be paid for storing and shipping the machine containing the drugs.

He was not involved in subterfuge and used his own mobile phone and email address in correspondence regarding the shipment.

And he was acting only on direction from someone described in court as a ‘named individual’.

But to describe him as “a mere cog in the wheel” was to underestimate his role, Justice Greally said.

He had a high level of trust and responsibility in the operation, Justice Greally said, paying shipping charges in the Port of Cork for the electromagnetic separator machine in which the drugs were concealed. 

He collected the machine containing the drugs, stored them at his family business, arranged for their onward shipping to Australia and used his own family contacts there to enable him to do so. 

He deceived a legitimate business in Australia to arrange the shipping and he created a false invoice for the onward shipping of the machine.

Aggravating factors included the quantity of the drugs — the largest ever seized by the State worth €32.4m — and the type of drug involved — a highly -addictive drug which caused widespread misery and social harm.

McDonnell’s involvement in an international criminal organisation linked to drug trafficking, money laundering and murder was another aggravating factor, Justice Greally said.

Although McDonnell said that he did not know what was in the machine, his “level of recklessness and indifference was tantamount to knowledge," Justice Greally said during sentencing in the Special Criminal Court.

He had “ample information” regarding the origin of the machine “to enable him to join the dots" that drugs were involved.

And while she acknowledged that McDonnell was in fear of the named individual she said that he was not initially under duress to agree to the plot.

Barrister for McDonnell, Michael Bowman, said that his client’s safety would be a concern during the rest of his incarceration.

'Savage attack'

McDonnell suffered a “savage” attack in Portlaoise Prison at the weekend and required an operation to fix his broken jaw, his solicitor Pádraig O’Connell said earlier this week.

A mask covered any injuries in court today, which required the insertion of screws, wires and two plates.

He would require additional security features for the remainder of his detention, Mr Bowman said.

Justice Greally acknowledged that a lengthy prison sentence would be more onerous on him than on other prisoners.

McDonnell's father Mike, who attended court today, said in a letter that his son suffered from the turmoil of the breakdown of his parent’s marriage.

He had shown significant sporting ability in his youth and had a generous nature.

“His judgement may have been impaired at a time when he was trying to do too much for too any people,” his father said.

His sister Abigail said in a statement that his children missed their father, who has been in custody since February 16, 2024.

Another sibling told the court in a letter that McDonnell had been a ‘father figure’ to his siblings when their parents’ marriage was breaking down.

Her brother was “a great father” whose sons were now suffering due to his absence.

The former president of the Tralee business chamber and a regular face on the ‘social pages’ of local publications, had been director of 11 businesses, including Ballyseedy Garden Centre, with total turnover of €4.5m to €5m.

He had been involved in charities and the kitchen at Ballyseedy was used for the local Meals on Wheels during the pandemic.

Spectacular fall from grace

But his criminal involvement has led to a spectacular fall from grace.

The businesses he once ran are being sold to pay millions of euro in debts and McDonnell is no longer benefitting financially from the Ballyseedy Group, the court heard.

Concessions are now operating the café and garden centre.

And McDonnell’s only remaining asset is his family home, subject to a mortgage, the court heard.

“He will struggle to restore the level of comfort he previously enjoyed,” Judge Greally said.

And while she acknowledged that McDonnell was in fear of the named individual she said that he was not initially under duress to agree to the plot.

Barrister for McDonnell, Michael Bowman, said that his client’s safety would be a concern during the rest of his incarceration.

McDonnell suffered a “savage” attack in Portlaoise Prison at the weekend and required an operation to fix his broken jaw, Mr O’Connell said earlier this week.

A mask covered any injuries in court, which required the insertion of screws, wires, and two plates. 

He would require additional security features for the remainder of his detention, Mr Bowman said.

Justice Greally acknowledged that a lengthy prison sentence would be more onerous on him than on other prisoners.

McDonnell's father Mike, who attended court, said in a letter that his son suffered from the turmoil of the breakdown of his parent’s marriage.

He had shown significant sporting ability in his youth and had a generous nature.

“His judgment may have been impaired at a time when he was trying to do too much for too any people,” his father said.

His sister Abigail said in a statement that his children missed their father, who has been in custody since February 16, 2024.

Another sibling told the court in a letter that McDonnell had been a ‘father figure’ to his siblings when their parents’ marriage was breaking down.

Her brother was “a great father” whose sons were now suffering due to his absence.

The former president of the Tralee business chamber and a regular face on the ‘social pages’ of local publications, had been director of 11 businesses, including Ballyseedy Garden Centre, with total turnover of €4.5m to €5m.

He had been involved in charities and the kitchen at Ballyseedy was used for the local Meals on Wheels during the pandemic.

But his criminal involvement has led to a spectacular fall from grace.

The businesses he once ran are being sold to pay millions of euro in debts and McDonnell is no longer benefitting financially from the Ballyseedy Group, the court heard.

Concessions are now operating the café and garden centre.

And McDonnell’s only remaining asset is his family home, subject to a mortgage, the court heard.

“He will struggle to restore the level of comfort he previously enjoyed,” Judge Greally said.