A Cork woman who was paid €400 to ferry cocaine down the motorway, and was caught on her second run with more than 3kg of the drug at her feet, has been jailed for three years.
Ellen Tobin (32), of Comeragh Park, The Glen, Cork, was sentenced at Cork Circuit Criminal Court by Judge Sinéad Behan after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply with a value of more than €13,000, the Irish Examiner reported on Friday, 30 October.
Stopped on the M8 at Glanmire
Gardaí stopped the car Tobin was travelling in on the M8 motorway at Riverstown, Glanmire, on the outskirts of Cork city, on 11 August 2025. Officers found a bag in the front passenger footwell containing more than 3kg of cocaine. The Irish Examiner’s report gave the value of the haul as around €242,000 in its headline and €243,000 in the body of the article.
Detective Garda Eoin O’Toole told the court that Tobin was very anxious when gardaí approached the car. She refused to name the person who had directed her to collect the drugs in Portlaoise and bring them back to Cork.
Second trip for a few hundred euro
The detective told the court that Tobin admitted it was her second such trip. For the first, she had been paid €400 and given a small quantity of cocaine for her own use. She said she had hoped to be paid more for the second run and did not know how much cocaine she was carrying that day.
It is a pattern that Irish courts hear about again and again: people at the bottom of the drugs trade, often struggling with addiction or debt, taking the greatest risk for the smallest reward while those organising the supply stay out of sight.
Addiction and remorse
Defence senior counsel Marjorie Farrelly told the court her client had no previous convictions. She said Tobin developed an addiction to alcohol in her mid-twenties, which later turned into a cocaine addiction, and that she had ended up acting as what counsel described as a low-level mule.
Ms Farrelly said Tobin had shown remorse throughout the case. A probation report assessed her as being at low risk of reoffending, and a report from the governor of Limerick Prison, where she had been held on remand, was described as very favourable.
Through her counsel, Tobin told the court that her addiction had taken her down “a dangerous path” from which she could not find her way out.
Why she did not get ten years
The offence Tobin admitted, possession of drugs worth €13,000 or more for sale or supply, carries a presumptive minimum sentence of ten years in prison under Section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act. Judges may impose a lower sentence where they find exceptional and specific circumstances, and an early guilty plea, the absence of previous convictions and genuine efforts at rehabilitation are among the factors that can be taken into account.
Judge Behan imposed a sentence of four and a half years, suspending the final 18 months. That leaves Tobin with three years to serve, a term which can be further reduced by standard remission for good behaviour. The Irish Examiner report did not carry any direct remarks from the judge explaining her decision.
What happens next
Tobin will serve the custodial part of her sentence in the prison system, with credit expected for time already spent on remand. The suspended portion of the sentence means she could be required to serve the final 18 months if she breaches the conditions attached to it, which typically include keeping the peace and being of good behaviour.
Both the defence and the prosecution have the right to appeal. The Director of Public Prosecutions can ask the Court of Appeal to review a sentence it considers unduly lenient, a route that has been used in a number of cases where the ten-year presumptive minimum was not applied. There was no indication in the report of whether either side intends to appeal.
The person who directed Tobin to collect the drugs in Portlaoise was not identified in court.
Sources
- Irish Examiner: Cork woman caught with €242,000 stash of cocaine in car on motorway jailed for three years (30 October 2026)
Featured image: Cork Courthouse Anglesea Street.jpg by Xx78900, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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