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A CAFE OWNER who grew cannabis to ease back pain has been ordered to carry out 240 hours community service.
Marcin Malinski (35) was stopped during a routine garda checkpoint when officers noted a strong smell of cannabis coming from the BMW he was driving.
A bag of cannabis plant cut-offs was found in the back of the car and Malinski and his passenger were taken in for questioning.
A follow-up search of the home Malinski shared with his fiancée, led to the discovery of a cannabis grow house. The gardaí found 17 cannabis plants at various stages of maturity.
Garda Niall Carolan told Fionnuala O’Sullivan BL, prosecuting, that the estimated street value of the drugs, should they reach full maturity, was €13,600.
Malinski of Boroimhe Hazel, Swords, Co Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drugs for sale or supply on 29 October, 2015. He has no previous convictions.
Malinski told gardaí in an interview that he had been living in Ireland for eight years and had been earning €200 per week on a JobBridge scheme.
He said he had been growing the cannabis for himself to ease back pain but admitted that he knew it was illegal to grow the drug.
Garda Carolan agreed with Garnet Orange SC, defending, that his client claimed he used lower strength cannabis to help with his pain and the standard of the cannabis cuttings found in his car was consistent with this claim.
He accepted that Malinski was co-operative and explained to gardaí immediately that he was growing the drug for medicinal purposes.
Orange told Judge Melanie Greally that his client injured his back while driving a truck for Guinness and discovered that lower strength cannabis helped ease the pain.
Counsel said his client was now drug free and suggested that Malinski was an upstanding citizen who was intending to make a life for himself and his fiancée in Ireland.
The couple have recently opened a salad bar café and a number of testimonials were handed into court speaking of his good character.
Judge Greally had previously adjourned the case to allow for a Probation Service assessment for suitability for community service.
She noted that the resulting report was positive and that Malinski had good prospects, had shown remorse and had no previous convictions.
She ordered that he carry out 240 hours community service within a year in lieu of a two-year jail term.
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Welcome to blueshirt Ireland. Home to Noonans and Kennys beloved Vulture funds and aided and abbeted by Varadkar and Donohue. They are selling off our country bit by bit and to hell with the Irish people who own it. And make no mistake about it they still have their greedy eyes on our water to sell off to their buddies. How much longer are we as a nation going to tolerate these wasters who by the way 74% of people did not vote for.
@Stephen Grehan: who’s going to sort it out then, and how?
@Yzo Sirrius: Well theFFGL corporate cartel have had decades to sort this out but to no avail. I take your point but the present shower have no interest in sorting this shambles out, but are happy enough to feed the REITs and vulture funds, who pay no tax.
@Stephen Grehan: Barking up the wrong tree stephen. The idiots of this country only know how to vote one of two ways, either FF or FG. With that kind of security underneath them nothing will ever change…it’s a remarkablely easy thing to pass rent controls such as in Germany or even for the state to build housing and turn a profit from it due to the low ECB Interest rates at the moment but there is absolutely no will. The best option is once again immigration…
@Stephen Grehan:
Well said Stephen ….. Vulture Capitalists now own everything …. thanks to the Anglo Irish blueshirts – we own nothing . Aer Lingus , Guinness , Waterford Glass, – all sold ….
And not too many of u are aware that we don’t even OWN our own seaweed on the west coast and can no longer harvest it as we see fit …. because DAMIEN ENGLISH sold the rights to a Canadian harvesting company.
Google it ….. before you go cockle picking in Cashel Bay and have to pay Canada for it!
@Pinkady: Guinness wasn’t sold, Waterford crystal was a loss making enterprise when it was sold. Aeringus was sold when it was loss making like most state airline companies around the world. People calling for change in government or giving out about “vulture funds” but not actually putting forward any solutions to the problems. Don’t mention People before Profit, their plans actual make no sense.
@Pinkady: who was Guinness sold too? It’s a private company, so is Waterford Crystal. Aer Lingus was sold when it was loss making like most state owned airlines. With regards seaweed, do you suggest we step up a semi state body to harvest and sell seaweed. Who will pay for this? Will the employees be on a state pension like the Garda, nurses etc. Sounds profitable.
@Stephen Grehan: what do you suggest Stephen? Who will you vote for in the next election?
@Thefunkphenomena: Definitely not the blueshirts, Soldiers of Destiny ( Lol ) , the lying Labour rats, and as for that crashing bore Eamon Ryan who would give an aspro a headache forget it.
It’s wrong that anyone should find themselves in such a situation but it galls me to heAr about a carer and mechanic not having a place to live.
@Lisa Saputo: he’s not a mechanic.
@RoarMax: Mechanic . Panel beater, Whatever he is, They are both working and can’t afford to put a roof over their heads because our country is being run into the ground by low lifes only interested in lining their own pockets.
It’s a discrace this hard working family can be treated like this for the sake of profit. If the government in 40s and 50s had the same attitude as nama we would still be living in slums.
More mismanagement by a state agency.
@John J. Smith: How so? We’re talking about a site here that has been sat empty for many years, in Sandyford, one of the fastest growing areas of employment (10,000+ people working in the Sandyford / Central Park area with the ability for that to grow 2-3x).
Sure, social housing is badly needed but as is apartments to rent / buy to those who work in the area. The area is particularly bad for housing in general due to the fast growing employers located there and the lack of housing stock. Take a look on Daft and you’ll see prime area Dublin city-centre level rents and little availability for a suburb location.
So why then is it a problem for Nama to sell this land to a developer who can very quickly provide much needed housing stock both to the many working there and to those on the social housing list. It’s predicted that they’ll try to apply for updated permission for up to 560 apartments which would mean a minimum 56 apartments for those on the housing list.
I’m at a loss to understand the difficulty in local authorities to build council houses , instead of leaving it to private developers to have some mixed in as part of planning permission.
Until local councils stop looking for quick bucks to pay for civil servants annual pay rises, nothing will change.
@Brian Smith: Would you prefer they built 100% social housing on this land when it has been proven time and time again both within Ireland and abroad that a high percentage of social housing focused upon one location leads to a much lower quality of life + standard of living for those in the neighborhood plus significant increases in crime and antisocial behaviour.
Any more than 15% social housing just doesn’t work, even large-scale developments in the UK that have put 15-20% social housing with 40-80% ‘affordable’ (government subsided so that rent is 20-50% below market) have had very similar (though on a slightly lesser scale) problems to those mentioned above
@Shane Corry: so what your saying is, if you can’t sfford your own Home you’ll be more likely to be antisocial and commit crime? Funny that, I grew up in a council estate in Scotland where it was low income, not welfare family’s , that mainly lived there and we never had that problem.
@Shane Corry: As our public housing stock was sold off and the remaining units were used to house only the most deprived, who admittedly had a higher rate of antisocial behaviour, the areas became ghettos. When there were more units and it was predominantly low income workers there weren’t such issues. Young professionals would be delighted to live in public housing.
@Shane Corry: That’s the excuse being spun to justify not building social housing estates that solved the problem of death trap tenements. Building social housing estates would destroy the status quo. The vulture funds, the landlords by reducing the cost of private housing and rents as it did before.
People aren’t the governments interest. Keeping a rigged housing and rent “market” going for the benefit of the few is.
@Brian Smith: Utter tripe Brian. That’s not what was said.
While building social houses is part of the solution, so is increasing the stock of privately owned apartments and houses.
It’s not one or the other, but everyone likes to play amateur dramatics these days and supporting extremes is the best way to do that it would seem.
@MK76: you got very upset there, you ok? Totally disagree with you though, if you build more social housing then the pressure is taken off people to buy as they have no choice . This then decreases rental costs for private as less people competing for same stock. This would reduce mortgage costs as demand not as high so developers couldn’t charge whatever they want. At the moment there is no social housing stock and it’s very one sided towards private ownership, which not everyone can afford.
The government need to go back to what worked, people rented of the corporation/councils and paid their rent to them each week.
Build the likes of Coolock, Finglas and Ballymun etc. But this time put in supports to act on Anti social behavior.
@garry murphy: but it didn’t work, did it?
@Yzo Sirrius: Where did it not work?
@Dave Doyle: in the 3 areas mentioned above. They’re all sh!tholes
@talkingsense: Lived in them have you? I grew up in Cabra West after spending an early childhood in tenement conditions. Cabra West was no sh!thole as you put it, where i was before was the sh!thole.
Social housing works!! It doesn’t work to well for the rigged “market” and that’s FFG’s problem.
@Dave Doyle: the area is so good you moved to Bulgaria yeah? Ballymun, coolock and finglas mentioned above all have houses for sale at very low prices in comparison to other areas of dublin and it’s not because they’re nice places to live now is it
@garry murphy: Gas all Northside, there are worse areas on the southside you know.
@talkingsense: Got married, moved to a house we saved for and bought, long before i moved to Bulgaria. There’s anti-social elements in all areas of the city and country. It’s not exclusive to social housing areas. Low pricies for housing in the areas you mention is as much about snobbery as anything else.
Social housing will solve the problem. But it will adversely effect the so called “market” for private housing and rent. And that’s the whole problem for FFG.
@Yzo Sirrius: Yes it did work it fell to pieces when they started selling of the houses/flats. These were and still are good places.
@Dave Doyle: of course there’s antisocial elements in all areas. It’s just far worse in predominantly social estates and the areas mentioned are prime examples. As for snobbery, if someone is willing to pay for their own home then they have every right to choose where they live. I’m actively house hunting at the moment and I certainly wouldn’t spend good money to live in any of those areas. I’ll spend my hard earned money on a house in an area people can take pride in
@talkingsense: You’re so mired in snobbery you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
@talkingsense: where is this lovely area with no problems
The cost of renting in Dublin doesnt make any sense. Its a direct result of the crash when all the tradesmen left/ changed jobs and the state stopped construction activity because it was broke. There were too many employees in quangos like the HSE to fund. The tail always wags the dog in Ireland as we limp from crisis to crisis Anyway a country of 4 odd million people is too small to be a viable economic entity as neoptism and vested interests are the order of the day.
@Marcus o Dhonnghaile: it’s a direct result of the central bank putting restrictions in place for mortgages. People need to learn the days of haugheys boom & bust culture are over. We need to start saving from an early age if we want nice things. Cheap credit is over. This is a period of stabilisation where the market is trying to right itself. There will be casualties and no one should have to go through it but we also have to live with the choices we made in life.
@Marcus o Dhonnghaile: this is one of the best summaries of seen.
Not to piggyback and ruin the sentiment but if honestly like to see how direct rule from the EU would work here, with the Dáil disbanded until we see how both realities compare.
@RoarMax: “saving from an early age” you make it sound so simple. Most people are living paycheque to paycheque especially renters they literally do not have the opportunity to save
@Marcus o Dhonnghaile: I am old enough tp remember Dublin in the fifties sixties seventies. When I look at dub now I see so many apartments everywhere, why have we a shortage ? I believe that we have a huge increase in population in Dublin that has not been documented by cso. Look at recent assaults/murders. In both cases non nationals living in family homes. The numbers are not matching the reality.
Ridicilious to let such an Much needed asset go on the open market..is it ineptitude Or policy..maybe both.
@Kieran OKeeffe: Do explain? Is the only solution here to build social housing?
@MK76: Got a better one? Lets hear it.
@MK76: Build affordable housing, Or make the housing already there affordable.
Govt and councils should be not just ashamed of themselves, they should be taken out and shot.
This is due to pure greed, ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours cronyism’. This entire country needs to go into lockdown, shut down ports, roads, airports until govt starts to do what’s right by the citizens of this country.
@Kath Noonan: shut down economic activity and hold the government to ransom…great idea, that should help the economic situation!
Definitely one of the more shortsighted and foolish comments I’ve read in a long time on here, and that’s saying something!
As that young couple are working and can’t afford to rent or buy what chance have the next generations coming behind zero it’s plain to be seen that governments have no intention of building affordable housing or controlling the rent charged it’s no wonder so many have left these shores !
I would look further into the motivations of this housing group seeking to drop 400 plus social housing units into the constituency of the councillor shown in the picture. As ever was, all politics is local.
This is the social fallout from the crash and the current upswing in the market. NAMA are doing what they’re mandated to do on behalf of the taxpayer and the private investor is making the most of a business opportunity in a prime development location.
Meanwhile, the average Joe is forced in to submission – what a mess!
I can only imagine how difficult it is with a 2 year old, trying to look after their needs and development, while not having proper roots.
The government is letting the people down, and it’s not down to any political party, in particular. Being in government, right now, is damage limitation.
Does anyone on here even remotely read these articles… this site is being sold by a receiver on behalf of a debtor… The receiver is legally obliged to get the maximum price possible. The debtor is also entitled to reduce his debt burden.
@Emmet Doyle: They read the articles but with a frame of reference and opinion already formed.
From some of the “solutions” proposed by commentators on here, it is clear they lack the ability of critical thinking, basic economics and, let’s face, a grasp on reality.
They tend to see issues as bivariate, or even singular e.g.’s it’s FFGs fault, stop immigration and solve the homeless issue, prevent the sale of land for private development and house the homeless, if you don’t like Trump you’re a liberal, being open-minded on issues like Travellers/abortion/gender you’re part of the PC brigade, the Journal deletes what it deems to be offensive and it’s PC/Liberal/Censorship/an attack on Free Speech!
These are complex, multi-faceted issues that face all modern, primarily Western, democracies and there is no “one size fits all” solution.
I’m not sure what it stems from – a lack of education, having a closed minded upbringing, no experience beyond their own front-door or they are paid bots, but it’s rife on here.
These are the real working people that need help ASAP not the bums who couldn’t be arsed working living of the state for a free ride . Feel so sorry for them
If selling this site was really in the interest of the Irish tax payer then should the tax payers like that couple not benefit first! Where will the so called ‘tax payers’ money go when this very lucrative sale is done? Who will benefit? Why can’t the government do right by it’s citizen’s, who have done right by them!
There is a 24 hour protest against the sale of this nama site this Saturday from 12 midday
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2189993584345069&id=100000033469257
Unfortunately those who are willing to do an honest days work for little money are now lesser off than those who don’t want to work at all. It’s just a roll over homeless problem!
Small estates work best I grew up in dublin on small council estate, good people, helped those neighbours who had problems
Sounds like they can just change the zoning and add a provision that half or whatever of the new apartments must be made available to people on the council housing list. Then open the bidding. I’m sure commercial developers would still be interested.
@ウィリアム はげ:
Yes but at a much lower price and the seller will be able to sue the council for the difference as he already has planning
The problem is how do we get best value for taxpayers. On one hand, we want taxpayers to be reinbursed for the debt taken by us ,taxpayers during recesion. On other hand the state should buy or develop land in a good value way. If we have to buy land at market value that will be very bad practice. We should encourage local authorities to develop small parcels of land all over Ireland for social housing thus avoiding ghettos as we had in the past.
@acallkelly:
But it’s not beside mamy!!
have your say