Robert O'Donnell sentenced to eight years with final four suspended over €2.1m drug seizure

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

Robert O'Donnell was sentenced to eight years in prison, with the final four years suspended, after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing drugs valued at €2.1m.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that gardaí stopped him on the M7 in Laois on 11 July 2025. The car he was driving contained two kilos of cocaine. A search of his mother's home later that day uncovered further cocaine as well as ketamine, cannabis and heroin.

O'Donnell said he had been transporting the drugs to pay off a drug debt. Judge Orla Crowe accepted that he was acting on instructions from others, while noting that they had trusted him to hold the drugs.

The judge set a starting point of 12 years and reduced it to eight after considering mitigation. She said his early guilty pleas and lack of previous convictions were among the factors allowing her to depart from the 10-year mandatory minimum.

The suspension was subject to conditions, including good behaviour for the four-year period, leaving a custodial term of four years.