A Sligo man who admitted having almost 5,000 rounds of ammunition at his home was jailed for five years by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday.
Gerard Mooney (39), an unemployed scaffolder and father of two, of St Anne's Terrace, Sligo, admitted the unlawful possession of 4,868 rounds of assorted ammunition and the unlawful possession of a magazine for a RPK light machine-gun at his home on September 6th last year.
He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on the ammunition offence, and two years' imprisonment for having the magazine. Both sentences are to run concurrently. Sentencing Mooney, Mr Justice Richard Johnson, said that he had constructed an outhouse and bunker in his home, and this suggested that the possession of the ammunition and magazine was "not of a short-term nature".
Det Insp James Kerins, Sligo, said gardaí who searched Mooney's home found the ammunition in a cardboard box in an upstairs bedroom. They discovered more ammunition in a hold-all bag in the stairwell of the stairs and the magazine for the light machine-gun was found hidden in the rafters of a garden shed.
Also in the shed, gardaí found a bunker consisting of a plastic barrel buried in a corner of the shed. After his arrest, Mooney told gardaí that he accepted responsibility for the items. He also told gardaí that he had constructed the bunker, and it was intended for burying the ammunition.
Mooney's counsel, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, said Mooney had been a Sinn Féin member but had fallen out with it. Leave to appeal was refused.