FEW SCOOPS | 

Ice-cream man convicted of selling poitín says ‘Revenue treated me like Kinahan gang’

“You can’t go in a pub or coffee shop in this country without seeing people snorting cocaine in every toilet. And nobody does a thing about it … people can be as brazen as they like.”

Yesterday at 09:00

An ice-cream man convicted of selling bottles of poitín out of his van has said Revenue officials treated him as “if I was one of the Kinahans”.

Cold treats vendor Patrick O’Dwyer told how in the aftermath of the details of his case becoming public, he has been inundated with messages of support from the local community.

“People think the whole thing is ridiculous,” the Cahersiveen man told the Sunday World.

“We’ve had hundreds and hundreds of comments on Facebook and Instagram saying how ridiculous this is.

“You can’t go in a pub or coffee shop in this country without seeing people snorting cocaine in every toilet. And nobody does a thing about it … people can be as brazen as they like.

“And yet, here Revenue are chasing a 71-year-old man over a bit of poitín … there isn’t a house in Kerry that doesn’t have a bottle of poitín in it.”

At his court appearance earlier this month, details of the offences with which the popular ice-cream seller was charged were outlined to Judge David Waters.

The court heard he had been found to have 31 litres of poitín at his address outside Cahirsiveen, including 19 100mls bottles off a room in the garage of his house as well as bottles in his ice-cream van.

Ninety empty bottles were also found during the search carried out by Revenue officers after he was detected selling the alcohol.

The warrant was executed on August 23, 2022, and on foot of the search he was before the court on a charge of keeping for sale or delivery alcohol on which the appropriate tax was not paid.

The case was brought by the DPP on request of the revenue.

The pensioner told us he was shocked at the ‘heavy-handed’ nature of the investigation and subsequent prosecution.

“The poitin was bought from the West Cork Distillery,” he said, “so all the duty was already paid on it.

“What they did me for was selling alcohol without a licence.

“And it wasn’t even that I was selling it. What happened was, where I’m perched up on top of the mountain (on Coomachiste Pass), most of the coaches don’t allow ice-cream or drinks onto the coaches.

“So, it’s only the foreign coaches that will stop and allow ice-cream, and the guys from Ulster.

“Northern coaches and the foreign coaches! No coaches from Kerry, Limerick or Cork will allow the ice-creams.

“So, as a favour and as a thank you, I was giving the poitín out to the drivers and the tour operators if they stopped and allowed me to sell them the ice-creams.

“So, no, I wasn’t selling it … but that’s what I was done for.”

He said when Revenue came to search his house it was “a massive event”.

“They blocked off the drive … blocked off the garage and came in here and made me sit at the table for three hours,” he continued.

“They would not allow me to move from the table and I was threatened, every time I tried to move, with seven days in a cell.

“There was five of them from Revenue. Jesus Christ – you would have thought I was one of the Kinahans.

“But I had bought this from a distillery and the duty was paid.

“It was all poitín, some of it was 40 proof and some of it was 72 proof and we also added some vodka to make it more drinkable.”

Asked why he had pleaded guilty to selling the alcohol if he wasn’t being paid for it, Patrick said: “I was offered a deal basically,” he said. “If I had gone to court and pleaded not guilty, then I could be open to a €20,000 fine. Or I could plead guilty, and I’d probably get a €2,500 fine.”

He was convicted and fined €2,500.