The Director of Public Prosecutions has succeeded in persuading the Court of Criminal Appeal to increase the prison sentence for drug offences imposed on a former member of the Irish Aviation Authority and Shannon Town Commissioners.
Thomas O'Shaughnessy had been jailed for 2½ years but will now have to serve a total of four.
Counsel for the DPP had argued the original sentence imposed on O'Shaughnessy (41), Finian Park, Shannon, Co Clare, was unduly lenient.
He was sentenced last November for having cocaine valued at €50,000 and had faced a possible minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years as the value of the drugs exceeded €12,700.
The trial heard that O'Shaughnessy, who is also a former Labour Party election candidate, had campaigned against drugs in Shannon but became addicted to cocaine while working in The Netherlands and carried the drugs to Dublin because of debts he owed to a dealer who threatened to harm his family.
He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the unlawful possession of 477g of cocaine, on October 2nd, 2001. The trial court was told O'Shaughnessy had completed a rehabilitative course.
Det Garda Paul Doran of the National Drugs Unit had stated that he got a search warrant immediately after he was given confidential information that an unknown person carrying drugs had booked into a Dublin city centre hotel.
He said gardaí found O'Shaughnessy on a single bed with a hold-all bag, containing the cocaine, nearby.
Det Garda Doran said O'Shaughnessy had admitted he was responsible for the drugs and made a statement in which he outlined how he owed a debt to a drug-dealer and was paying him back by acting as a courier.
Granting the DPP's appeal at the appeal court yesterday, Mr Justice Geoghegan, sitting with Mr Justice O'Neill and Mr Justice McKechnie, said the new four-year sentence effectively meant that O'Shaughnessy had a custodial sentence of 3½ years, to date from November 29th last.
While the appeal court had come to the conclusion after careful consideration that the original sentence was unduly lenient, it was not going to substitute a hugely increased sentence, he said.
The court had to be careful to examine the reasons why the sentencing judge had imposed what was undoubtedly a lenient sentence.
She had listed a number of factors which arose in a number of cases and were not all that exceptional, such as the plea of guilty, O'Shaughnessy's co-operation with the gardaí and the fact that he had no previous convictions.
What must correctly have influenced the sentencing judge most was the rehabilitative aspect of the case, Mr Justice Geoghegan said. She was clearly satisfied that O'Shaughnessy was a man who was not only remorseful but was taking all the necessary steps to deal with his drug problem.
It was important to emphasise, when that arose, it was not just a private benefit but was something in the interests of the public.
O'Shaughnessy was a member of the board of directors on the Irish Aviation Authority for two terms since its foundation in 1994. He was also a member of Shannon Town Commissioners from 1995 to 1999, when he did not seek re-election.,