Court of Appeal dismisses Joseph Kelly’s appeal against six-and-a-half-year sentence

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

The Court of Appeal has dismissed Joseph Kelly’s appeal against his six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for possessing cannabis for sale or supply, upholding the sentence imposed in March 2024. The ruling was delivered on 20 June 2025.

Kelly was the sole occupant of a van stopped on the N4 on 16 April 2019. Gardaí found 19 sacks containing 93.858kg of cannabis, valued at €1,877,160, and an encrypted phone operating on a Dutch network. The court said his role was essentially that of a courier, but that he acted knowingly and for profit.

The appeal court rejected arguments that the sentence was excessive and that part of it should have been suspended. It found the sentencing judge had allowed for mitigating circumstances; the proposed suspension ground lacked an adequate basis and was misconceived.