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Pandemic-hit taxi driver promised €200 to move €83k in crime cash
Summary
Bernard Fagan, a 57‑year‑old taxi driver from Dublin 17, pleaded guilty in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing €83,750 of suspected crime proceeds on the M1 motorway in Swords on 9 December 2021. He had a few minor convictions dating back to 1990 but no recent Garda attention or remorse. Judge Dara Hayes imposed a headline sentence of two and a half years but, citing Fagan's lack of relevant convictions and the crime's lower‑range nature, reduced the custodial term to 18 months and suspended it in full. The judge warned that Fagan had come close to imprisonment and urged him to use the opportunity. Fagan was arrested after Gardaí discovered the cash in a blue plastic bag in his vehicle's front passenger footwell. He had been promised €200 to transport the money, a proposition he accepted while struggling financially after the pandemic.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Pandemic-hit taxi driver promised €200 to move €83k in crime cash. Charges or matters: being in possession of €83,750, the proceeds of crime, on the M1 motorway in Swords on December 9, 2021. Procedural stage: sentence
When:
- December 9, 2021 Incident
- 2022-12-19 Publication
Why: He had paid for the new taxi and the insurance for it through a €16,000 credit union loan and found himself in financial difficulty because of the inability to work during Covid. CNI source report
Case subjects
Defendant
Charges: being in possession of €83,750, the proceeds of crime, on the M1 motorway in Swords on December 9, 2021 (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: Judge Hayes said the court could accept that the crime was "a temporary suspension of any good judgement and was out of character" for Fagan, and as such, a custodial sentence was not necessary "at this time". He suspended the sentence in full and warned Fagan that he came very close to going to jail. "You have been given an opportunity, and you should take it," Judge Hayes said.
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