GUILTY PLEA | 

Dundalk man jailed for selling dodgy passport later used by Daniel Kinahan

Seamus Walsh, from Mountainview Crescent, Dundalk, was paid €2,000 for the passport

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A Co Louth man has been jailed for 15 months after admitting he sold a false passport that was later used by Daniel Kinahan

RTE has reported how Seamus Walsh, from Mountainview Crescent, Dundalk, was paid €2,000 for the passport in 2011.

It was later used by the wanted cartel boss who had use of the passport for up to six years before it was cancelled.

At a previous sitting of the court, evidence was given that, in December 2011, Walsh was “off his head on drugs” when he was approached by a man he claimed not to know about buying the passport.

A fee of €2,000 was agreed and Walsh later submitted false documents to apply for a passport in his own name.

These included a bank account he never had, a driver’s licence number that did not exist and a utility bill that was not addressed to him.

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Also included was a photo of a man who bears no resemblance to Walsh, although the person is of similar age.

The man in the picture was Kinahan, described in court as a senior figure in organised crime who was the “ultimate recipient” of the travel document.

It was posted to Walsh’s home on December 6, and shortly afterwards he passed it on, unaware of who was going to use it.

He gave it no further consideration until 2018, when detectives from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) called to his home.

In the intervening seven years, Kinahan had used the passport to travel around Europe and farther afield to avoid adverse attention from law enforcement officials.

The court was also told there is no connection between Walsh and Kinahan or organised criminality.

His only previous infractions related to minor offences for theft and public order more than 10 years ago and he is now six years sober and drug-free, trains an under-age GAA team every Sunday and helps out around the club with clean-ups and fundraising.

The 43-year-old is also the sole carer for his elderly mother, who requires a wheelchair and has a number of serious ailments.

Apart from the decision to sell his passport, counsel said, Walsh had lived a “very uneventful life”.

Det Gda Feilim McKenna, of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, had earlier given evidence of the garda inquiry.

He said a complaint was made by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) about a passport application from Seamus Walsh.

The passport had been dispatched to his address on December 6, 2011.

Det Gda McKenna said documents submitted with the passport application, including a drivers licence and bank statements, were false.

He also said the photograph did not match the public service card belonging to Mr Walsh.

The detective said the photo belonged to Daniel Joseph Kinahan who he described as a “senior figure in organised crime”.

An internal investigation took place, and the passport was revoked on October 24, 2017.

In August 2018 the accused was interviewed under caution about the passport.

He initially claimed not to remember applying for the passport but later made full admissions.

Seamus Walsh confirmed that the drivers licence used for the application contained his name and date of birth but told gardaí it wasn’t his picture or signature.

He told gardaí he was “off his head on drugs” at the time, specifically heroin, which escalated after the death of his father.

Defence barrister Ronan O’Carroll said that his client was the sole carer for his ill mother, who used a wheelchair and has multiple medical issues.

He stated that his client has been off heroin for around six years and is a community volunteer who trains a juvenile team in his local GAA club each Sunday.

Counsel submitted the offending occurred when Seamus Walsh was in “the throes of a heroin addiction” and at the worst time of his life.

Mr O’Carroll asked the court not to look upon the “ultimate destination” of the passport as an aggravating factor and said that the offending occurred 12 years ago.

Judge Dara Hayes remarked that, not withstanding the recipient of the passport, it was a serious offence carried out in a manner which can only be used for a criminal purpose.

The matter was adjourned to April 25 for sentencing but when Walsh failed to appear for sentencing before Dundalk District Court he was later arrested last Friday on foot of a bench warrant.

His defence counsel Ronan O’Carroll said that his client wanted to apologise to the court.

He said Walsh had “panicked on the day” and “couldn’t face the consequences”.

Mr O’Carroll said his client had been surprised by the “great deal of attention” this case had attracted and that this had had an effect on him.

Judge Hayes said that this was a “serious offence by which a false passport was acquired for nefarious purposes”.

He said that a passport acquired in this way can only be for criminal use.

Judge Hayes accepted that Walsh did not know who the passport was for, but that he “cannot but have known that the passport he acquired was for an illegitimate purpose”.

He said this was done for personal profit and to assist criminality, but the judge accepted that Walsh was not aware of the type of criminality.

He took account of the accused’s guilty plea and his cooperation, and noted that rehabilitation steps he had taken as a person who had a severe drug addiction.

Judge Hayes said a custodial sentence was required given Walsh knew the passport was for some form of unlawful purpose.

He sentenced Seamus Walsh to two and-a-half years in prison, with the final 15 months suspended.