Dealer dad of 15 claims he bought €295k house by saving social welfare

Dermot Calvert also denied claims by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) that €205,000 worth of refurbishments on his two-bed semi-detached house were paid for with criminal cash.

He laughed when the CAB valuation was put to him during a garda interview and told them at one point he was in receipt of €1,600 just in child benefits alone.

His wife, Martina Harty, who has five children, has said the house – bought for €17,000 in 2014 – was paid for with compensation cash she had received.

The couple, along with Calvert’s daughter Stacey, are being targeted by CAB, who claim the property along with a car and seized bundles of cash are the proceeds of crime.

Evidence was given that Calvert is a career criminal who is involved with prominent gangland figures in Limerick city and has no visible income.

His 91 previous convictions include four for the sale and supply of drugs and seven “income generating” offences. His daughter, Stacey, who was also named in the case had no criminal background, it was heard.

She currently lives in the house at Singland Crescent with her partner and three children, while her father and Ms Harty live in the granny flat at the back of the home.

Counsel for CAB said that the family could not have funded their lifestyle, which included building a granny flat and buying a derelict shop, from their stated income.

In his evidence, the Bureau’s Chief Officer, Michael Gubbins, said that it was his belief that the property was acquired “directly or indirectly” from the proceeds of crime.

The case began when gardaí carried out a raid on the home in June 2019 in response to information that drugs were being sold from there, it was heard in court.

Two bundles of cash worth just over €17,000, along with 2,000 empty plastic baggies were found hidden behind the kitchen kickboards in the granny flat.

Another €5,850 was found a year later in a bedside drawer, which Ms Harty said did not come from criminal activity.

She said money had come from the sale of a camper van as well as a compensation claim and from working as a cleaner.

Ms Harty also has no visible income since social welfare payments were stopped in 2017, according to the Bureau.

Counsel for CAB said that it was “incredible” that money could have been saved from social welfare payments and that by their own figures, the couple had €38 a week to live on.

Stacey Calvert, whose partner David Casey has drugs convictions, has never been employed but has had seven cars registered to her name, it was heard.

A 151-reg VW Passat being targeted by CAB had been registered in Ms Calvert’s name but to an address in Swords, Co. Dublin, where she was wasn’t known.

Counsel for CAB said that Stacey Calvert fails to give an explanation for this in her affidavit evidence.

The house where she now lives at Singland Crescent was bought in 2014 for €17,250 which CAB say was bought under value.

A surveyor has now valued the house at €170,000 and estimated that €205,000 was spent on refurbishing the property, building an extension and a granny flat at the back.

The assertion that the work was carried out by her partner and his father and little cash was spent on the property are not credible, according to CAB.

Counsel added that Casey’s father was on disability payments, which were collected on his behalf by an appointed agent since 2016.

Another property, a derelict shop at Cloughan Court, was bought for €13,000 using €3,000 in cash and a €10,000 Credit Union loan.

The loan was paid off in cash instalments, which CAB say come from the proceeds of crime.

It is estimated that €48,000 was spent refurbishing the property, which is now valued at €125,000.

Mr Calvert’s claim that compensation money from 17 months previously was used are “not credible”.

The granny flat was built without planning permission in 2018, a year after Mr Calvert and his wife had been cut off by social welfare.

The court heard in one affidavit Mr Calvert said he had been paid a total of €23,000 in three separate insurance claims.

At one point, he said he and his previous wife were in receipt of €1,600 a month in child benefit allowance.

In a replying affidavit Mr Calvert denied that the refurbishment cost as much as estimated by the Bureau.

He also denied being involved in a criminal organisation and that people he had been seen with by gardaí were neighbours or ex-neighbours.

He also said the plastic baggies found in his kitchen were simply food bags and there was nothing untoward about them.

Stacey Calvert had previously been granted free legal aid for the case, while an application was made ahead of this week’s hearing for Dermot Calvert and Martina Harty to each have their own counsel.

Judge Owens decided a single free legal aid certificate could be split between two counsel to represent them.

The hearing is due to be continued again next month.