Sligo man Barry Young appears in court charged with directing criminal gang

Barry Young, the court heard, had been arrested on January 11th last as he boarded a plane to Spain at Dublin Airport and was subsequently brought to Sligo Garda Station for questioning over the past week.

Young, of 13 Geldof Drive, Cranmore made no reply when the charges were put to him by Gardaí. He was brought before the court at 9pm last night where Garda Kieran Staed gave evidence of arresting him at 2.38pm yesterday at Sligo Garda Station and subsequently charging him. Young was further charged at 8.44pm.

Young is charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation both within and outside the State between October 4th 2019 and January 15th 2022, both dates inclusive.

He is further charged with engaging in possessing €27,100 allegedly the proceeds of criminal conduct at Geldof Drive, Cranmore on June 8th 2020.

Inspector Paul Kilcoyne outlined to the court that in respect of the first charge the accused could not apply for bail in the District Court and he applied for a remand in custody in relation to this on Thursday next via video link from Castlerea Prison.

An application for bail on the second charge was made by Mr Michael Byrne, solicitor of Aonghus McCarthy Solicitors, Dublin. Inspector Kilcoyne objected to bail and called Detective Inspector Ray Mulderrig to outline the reasons.

After hearing lengthy evidence in the matter, Judge Sandra Murphy refused bail on the charge and remanded Young in custody on both counts to appear at Sligo District Court on Thursday.

An application for legal aid was made by Mr Byrne but Judge Murphy said she hadn’t been given a complete statement of means and was reserving the issue for the moment.