FOUR people who have pleaded guilty to counting drugs money for the John Gilligan criminal organisation have been remanded in custody again for sentence after Judge Dominic Lynch heard details of their statements to gardai.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told that a couple and their daughter were hired to count large bags of cash by Russell Warren, who was described at an earlier hearing as an "accounts clerk" for the Gilligan drugs gang.
The operation, in which more than £1.5 million was counted by them, began two days after journalist Veronica Guerin was murdered and ended when gardai raided their home in September 1996.
They were paid sums of £50 and £25 for every counting session and claimed they had saved up to £600 each in a credit union as a result.
Russell Warren has been given a five-year jail term for money-laundering and is in the Witness Protection Programme.
Judge Lynch said he needed time to assess the evidence and would sentence them on Thursday.
Yvette and Patrick Warren (both 69) and Nicola Warren (26) pleaded guilty to handling money they knew was the proceeds of drug-trafficking or other crimes, at their home in Heatherview Lane, Tallaght.
Nicola Warren's husband, Brian Cummins (26), of Clonfert Road, Crumlin, also pleaded guilty to handing over £10,000 to another man on behalf of the Gilligan gang.
Patrick Warren told gardai that his son claimed the money was for cigarettes and tobacco. It was not until later he realised the money was for John Gilligan after he became suspicious that the counting was going on for too long and he never saw any cigarettes.
He said his son would ask them to count one or two plastic bags he would leave on the stairs and return in a couple of hours when they had finished counting.
He said he would bring bundles of money into the house twice weekly. Two yellow covered notepads were kept in the refrigerator containing the values of money counted. i.
Yvette Warren said she did not know where her son collected the money from but knew it was from different men. She said Russell indicated to the family that people were getting shot if anything was said. Nicola Warren claimed she did not get paid a penny, "not even presents", for counting the money. Det Garda John Poole told Mr Tom O'Connell, prosecuting, the Warren home was raided in September 1996 and gardai found £56,505 and £7,500 sterling.
He told an earlier hearing that none of the four had any previous convictions and had initially thought that the money was the proceeds of selling tobacco in the city centre.