Burglar with 95 previous convictions stole €1,500 from a pub

By Fiona Ferguson

A burglar with 95 previous convictions who stole €1,500 from a pub and a cleaner’s phone from a restaurant has had his sentencing adjourned for reports.

Paul Browne (54) committed the burglaries a month apart while on a suspended sentence.

Defence counsel said Browne was hoping to get a place in residential treatment for a heroin addiction that had blighted his life for decades.

The court heard that Browne’s previous convictions include 35 for burglary.

Browne, of Oliver Plunkett Villas, Monkstown, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the burglaries at O’Regan’s Bar on October 19 and Kicky’s Restaurant on November 29, 2025. Both premises are on South Great Georges Street.

The court heard that Browne stole €1,500 after forcing a till open at O’Regan’s while the bar manager investigated a problem upstairs. He fled and the money was not recovered. He was identified on CCTV footage from the pub.

The following month he stole a cleaner’s phone at a restaurant after entering underneath partially raised shutters. Gardai were alerted and stopped him nearby. They recovered the phone and returned it to it’s owner. He has been in custody since that date.

Justin McQuade BL, defending, asked the court to consider his client’s early guilty pleas and that he had made admissions in relation to the second case.

He said Browne was a long-standing heroin addict and had developed a “revolving door system” between prison and criminality.

Counsel said Browne is now attempting to rehabilitate himself from that addiction which has blighted his life. He handed in letters from Browne and Merchants Quay. He said Browne is waiting on a bed to become available in residential treatment.

The court heard a bail application could be made in the case if that should arise.

He said Browne has also linked in with counselling while on remand in Cloverhill. He asked the judge not to finalise sentencing today as Browne would lose his place on the treatment centre waiting list if he is no longer on remand.

Mr McQuade said Browne had attended treatment previously and been clean for three years before falling back into homelessness and addiction.

He said prior to going into custody Browne had been living “a grim hand to mouth existence” and he is aware the future is not good for him as an elder person on the streets with an addiction without support and assistance.

He asked the court to stay its hand for now in light of the “small green shoots” of rehabilitation.

Judge Orla Crowe noted  Browne was a recidivist prolific burglar with a heroin addiction and convictions dating back to the 1980’s.

She said the court was not making any promises and adjourned the case to allow a probation and prison governors report be prepared. She ordered urine analysis to take place. She adjourned the case to March 19, 2027.