Limerick drug dealer looks for legal aid to fight CAB bid to seize house

Dermot Calvert told the High Court this week that his solicitor had “pulled out” the previous day and he would be looking for legal aid to fight the case.

The case centres on a house at Singland Crescent in Garryowen, Co Limerick, which CAB is claiming was bought with the proceeds of crime.

Judge Owens told Mr Calvert he needs to get a solicitor but added two weeks to the deadline for him to officially answer the case.

He also gave Calvert a four-week extension to swear an affidavit opposing the case being put forward by CAB.

The judge explained that he can apply for legal aid but affidavits have to be sworn for that as well and “you have to show you have some kind of defence.”

It won’t be the first time Dermot Calvert and his wife Martina, who is also named in the CAB action, have had a legal battle to keep a home.

In March 2019, they were threatened with imprisonment if they didn’t vacate a house at Mossgrove Avenue, Caherdavin Heights in Limerick.

A High Court judge gave them the warning after it was heard they had failed to comply with an order requiring them to leave the semi-detached house.

The couple, who agreed to leave the house, were brought before the court by gardai as an order was sought to have them imprisoned for being in contempt of the order made in April 2018.

A receiver for the house said the locks on the property had been changed in November 2017 and the house was occupied by people who had no right to be there.

In 2020, Dermot Calvert was described in court as a serial offender where he had pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine and Xanax tablets worth €15,000.

He got an 18-month sentence at Limerick Circuit Court after drug seizures in August 2015, February 2018 and September 2018.

He told gardai he was holding one stash of drugs to clear a debt and another were for using with friends at house parties.