A promising art student has been jailed after he was caught with €117,000 worth of heroin at his home in Ballyfermot almost two years ago.
Gary Whelan of Gurteen Park, Ballyfermot told Gardai he was set up while trying to pay off a drugs debt.
Gardai seized the heroin, along with €1,000 worth of cannabis, during a search of Mr. Whelan's home in February 2012.
The court heard how the 23-year-old's children were in the house at the time of the Garda search
An amateur grow house with heat lights, plant food and a foil tent were also found in his attic.
Whelan, a student of conceptual art at Ballyfermot College, said he was forced to store a package because of an €800 drugs debt but had no idea it contained heroin.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring sentenced Whelan to two and a half years prompting an emotional plea from his mother who took to her feet from the public pews.
She said her son was "out of his mind at the time and was not a bad person".
The CC Judge sympathised with her situation but said she'd no choice but to punish those who dealt drugs that caused problems to other Irish families.
