Niall Finnegan jailed for possessing cash from ATM robbery

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

Mr Justice Tony Hunt sentenced Niall Finnegan to four and a half years in prison, with the final 18 months suspended, on 29 November 2021.

Finnegan pleaded guilty. The offence involved possessing €103,000 on 20 August 2019 following an ATM robbery. The proceedings were reported on 29 November 2021.

The report said Finnegan was involved with a cross-border organised crime gang that carried out six ATM raids across Cavan, Monaghan and Meath in 2018 and 2019. The gang stole €790,000, of which gardaí recovered €440,000.

On 14 August 2019, gardaí disrupted an attempted ATM robbery in Virginia, Co Cavan, and three men were arrested. The court heard that six days later, Finnegan met one of those men after his release and went to land in Tullypole, Co Meath, where they dug up stolen cash and put it in a shed.

Gardaí found €298,900 in two plastic containers when they raided the shed. They also stopped a car Finnegan was in and found €15,000 in the footwell and €88,900 in the boot.

The report said Finnegan had been told he would be “looked after”. When caught, he admitted making a mistake and said he would stay out of trouble for the rest of his life. The court heard that the father of three was a hard-working family man who volunteered in his community. However, Mr Justice Hunt said Finnegan knew the background to the thefts and stressed the need to deter crimes that damaged rural businesses and communities.

The judge refused Finnegan’s request to begin his sentence after Christmas, saying it would not be much of a Christmas with the sentence hanging over him.