I wonder had he insurance!
Fun fact ...I did a tour of autzwich a few years ago. The guide told me the nazi had the camps insured through Lloyds of London in case of fire.
I'd imagine there is a margin in this business of soiled goods/products seized along the way but its a pretty big amount in this instance hence I'd be surprised if the two boys don't keep their traps shut. I dont think I'd be inclined to talk personally.
Mr o Shea will want his money back.
I'd agree that there will be an element of class to it all but the evidence will all come out in the wash. The media can't say too much at the moment etc. It seems that one of the individuals was monitored on encrochat as appears to have been up to his eyes in this filth for a long time.
The other one you'd wonder about alright. Greed, stupidity, arrogance, getting in with the wrong crowd through personal use of supply, who knows.
There's a man in Mecim.xick or somewhere down a very significant amount of money so I can't see either talking if they have much sense.
Wouldnt even feel 1% sorry for them.
Ballyseedy Tralee is a successful format for sure...not too sure about the stand alone based ballyseedy themed cafes in Limerick and cork without the crystal palace themed garden/lifestyle surroundings.
I'd have no doubt Bernie started out all about the plants but the cafe part took over and sure why wouldn't you run with it! Doubt it was the plan, it just got bigger and bigger, every time you went out there pre Covid more and more space was taken up with tables, sure some days people even sat at the garden furniture displays that were for sale! To me it was more akin to Avoca and sure that's fine too as that's what the demand was for obviously.
Anyway I think I've discussed them enough, who knows what went on! It's all just sad for everyone involved in all families.
Yet...All their media interactions by Nathan and his mother is based on their knowledge of gardening/horticultural aspects of their business on tv/radio/,print media ... definitely not the food/cafe route which maybe/not is the true vocation/ cash cow which does seem to be direction they were heading.
Well he might but that would mean him and his family going into witness protection in some far flung corner of the earth. I hear Mexico has nice weather and surely the cartel wouldn't think twice about him being under their noses.
Yes but Ballyseedy while it started out as a garden centre it became more of a restaurant/lifestyle shop, the plant sales I imagine are secondary to the food especially. I'd say I've bought more plates/cake stands/kitchen stuff/clothes out there than I have plants. They had seating for up to 300 at one stage before Covid, there is a smaller amount of seating since. I garden a lot, an awful lot, and it would be the last place I would go for plants as to me they are more an impulse buy by someone having coffee/lunch rather than a serious gardener destination. I have bought a few things there, again very much impulse as they will be something different or particular but certainly wouldn't be buying my bedding plants there for example. They are very expensive for plants compared to the other 2 good garden centres locally that are actually proper garden centres in my opinion.
Don't know what they did during Covid re collections/deliveries etc, I got deliveries from Farranfore alright and was in the queue the day they reopened!
He's no different to the other man charged with him but typical white collar bias he'll get a certain amount of "wasn't he stupid/he's a nice man/ what about the poor family" etc
Everyone will automatically look down at JL and refer to him in a completely diff context than to NMCD
Ballyseedy have 140 employees ,does this include the cafe in Limerick ,Cork and Ardfert .Any way you can easy see why some people might have some pity for him ,it is a heavy cost to him ,similar to drug ravaged families troughout the land
Ballyseedys cafe would be where they make most of their money, and that would have taken a big hit during Covid restrictions.
COVID was exceptionally good for garden centres. They were amongst the first shops to reopen and all during the lockdown they offered collection.
I know of one in Kildare that had a near doubling of their turnover and he jokingly wants another COVID, so I think that angle can be discounted.
He must have been in serious financial trouble.
It's complete madness to get involved in the drugs business if you're already successful.
Most people who get involved are from deprived backgrounds and are a product of their environment.
Maybe he thought it would be easy money just fiddling a bit of paperwork.
I wonder how successful these businesses were in real time or were they just to create a illusion of success.
Ego and adrenaline are one thing, downright stupidity is another. And it's downright stupidity to get involved in something as nefarious, whatever the debt pressure and whatever the temptations. And this guy isn't stupid, he's well educated and obviously smart and astute if he can run all those businesses.
Now maybe the guy is just a bad egg. I don't know him personally, but as a keen gardener I'd be a customer, so often had dealings with both himself and his mother and I always found him very polite, knowledgeable and helpful. But then again people can wear many masks. But you'd still wonder how he started in crime if indeed he's found guilty. The other dodgy characters involved in this would not appear to be the type he'd ever rub shoulders with. As for his mother, I'd be beyond gobsmacked if there was even a hint that she was aware of what was going on. And I certainly hope not. I feel very sorry for her and for him too, not to mention his three little boys. There are only losers in this, which again makes you wonder how he could have been so stupid or so desperate.
Plenty of assumptions being made, truth is none of us know & he's not exactly going to tell anyone!
what I heard was his mrs was from a rich Dublin Family ,so who knows who was the brains of the operation
There's definitely more that we don't know
Ego & Adrenaline but mainly the former I would hazard a guess at, unless there is more to it that we don't know
Whatever the reason for his involvement,he'll have a long time to think it through. I imagine he'll loose everything by the time this is over and probably his family as well.
In some ways I feel sorry for him but he's a grown , well educated guy. He can't have been so naive.
My job brings me into contact with these guys customers. They probably had no hope of realising what that first smoke or injection would do to their lives.
Thinking that myself...he probably couldn't get out of this game even if he wanted to..had to be laundering a lot of money to be able to open all these ballyseedy style restaurants all over Munster
I don't know but people who stick within the limits have nothing to worry about.
I'm old enough to remember visiting Kerry for weekends and reading in the kerryman of Paddy Murphy in court for driving 31 mph in a 30mph zone and Sgt Murphy giving evidence to that effect.
Now I haven't a clue obviously and it's all just surmising but I'd imagine he didn't have it all or next nor near it when this started. That place had huge debt following the crash, 4m owed in 2013, then while things started to improve and maybe the pressure was easing along came Covid which must have dealt a near fatal blow to a place that needed cashflow and constant customers. I'd wonder is that what triggered it, then once you're in I'd imagine it's hard to say I only wanted to do a couple of jobs lads to fill the gap and I'm out now! I don't think that is how it works!
You really would wonder what on earth possessed somebody who had it all like him to get mixed up in the seedy underworld of drugs and crime. All very well to say greed, but get into something like that and eventually you end up either dead or in prison and no money is worth that. Could it be a real life Breaking Bad or Ozark we have here in Tralee? Where a formerly upstanding citizen somehow gets ensnared and the web tightens? I guess eventually the truth will out but it sure is shocking when these things happen on your doorstep to people you know.
Nathan's life is changed forever whatever happens...leen probably more accepting of the risks and repercussions
Horan Centre, what is now Dunnes. They bought out the Tesco's Irish business but didn't last very long.
Does anyone here remember where the H Williams supermarket was in town - the brand came up in a recent quiz, and remembered old photos with that shop front, but wouldn't know which street?
That lifestyle won't suit him at all.
Wonder how much of the increase in speeding fines was from the speed van parked on Rock St or outside the hurling field in Abbeydorney catching people doing 57KPH? 🙄
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