A drug addict has been advised by a Circuit Court judge that he should be more like Leonardo Di Caprio in the film Titanic and "be a man".
Mark Daly (28), of Thomas McDonagh Towers, Ballymun, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for a review of a six-year sentence for robbery imposed last November. Judge Kieran O'Connor declined to release Daly because urine analysis tests showed he was still on heroin in prison.
Judge O'Connor said Daly could learn from films about Irish people who emigrated to America during the Great Famine. "Many had very little money but had managed to improve their lives," he said.
Like Daly, the young man in the film Titanic had no money. Nevertheless, he had decided to go to America to better his life, as millions of Irish people had done. Many of those people did very well, and Daly could follow their example by taking a positive view of life.
He should "stand up and be a man" and he was the only one who could make that happen. If he displayed the type of spirit shown in Titanic, he could do very well. Otherwise, his only chance was to play the Lotto.
"Anyone who goes on drugs is going to need a lot of money and it's a recipe for disaster," Judge O'Connor warned.
He set a new review date in April of next year, and ordered four months' urine analysis before Daly's case is reconsidered.