Defence solicitor claims there was a high level of drug taking at Sea Sessions

A shattering claim about drug-taking at a Donegal festival has been made at Ballyshannon District Court.
Defence solicitor Gerry McGovern said “about 90 per cent” of people at the Sea Sessions festival in Bundoran were probably taking drugs.
Father-of-three Jonathan O’Neill, 25, of Kilclare Drive, Tallaght, admitted possession of 24 ecstasy tablets at the Sea Sessions festival in Bundoran on June 26 2016.
When Judge Kevin Kilrane observed that O’Neill was not accused of intent to sell drugs, but just possession, the solicitor told Ballyshnnon District Court that some people take seven or eight of these tablets in a session.
He said the drugs were about €4 each and that O’Neill regretted his offence and regarded it “as a very foolish thing.”
Solicitor McGovern added: “About 90 per cent of the population there at the time was probably taking drugs.”
Judge Kilrane adjourned the case to next December 1 and told O’Neill, who has no previous convictions that if he remained out of trouble the Probation Act would be applied.
After the hearing Daniel Browne, of Sea Sessions said his organisation had an extremely strong relationship with the gardai locally throughout the course of the festival to ensure that any illegal behaviour is dealt with positively in accordance with the law.