Barry Young jailed for directing a criminal organisation

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Barry Young was sentenced at the Special Criminal Court to 12 years in prison, with the final year suspended. The proceedings were reported on 31 July 2023.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt suspended the final year for four years after Young’s release, on condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour during that period. The judge set a headline sentence of 16 years and reduced it to 12 years for mitigating factors, including Young’s early guilty plea.

Young, 38, pleaded guilty to directing the activities of a criminal organisation within and outside the State between 4 October 2019 and 15 January 2022.

The organisation supplied cannabis, cocaine and prescription drugs, with associated threats and intimidation. It operated in Sligo and had wider west and northwest connections. Young directed 20 members through a hierarchical structure.

The investigation linked more than €500,000 in drugs, €55,000 in cash and at least €60,000 in bank and credit union accounts to Young. At an earlier hearing, Detective Inspector Ray Mulderrig said Young’s only stated income was social welfare.

Michael Bowman SC, for Young, said his client had developed a significant drug difficulty and was under enormous pressure to pay debts. Mulderrig agreed that there had been a legitimate threat to Young’s life because of those debts and that his mental health had suffered. Bowman said Young had sought to take his own life and had engaged with counselling and addiction services.