John Sheahan, from Co Cork, was slapped with a two-year suspended sentence this week after pleading guilty to offences including possessing cannabis for sale or supply and to cultivating cannabis without a licence.

He told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that he had evicted his tenants for growing cannabis, but had later been approached and persuaded to resume the grow operation himself, The Irish Times reports.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain quipped to the court: “Was it the way he objected to Foreign Direct Investment? He throws out the developer and then takes over the business himself.”

Gardaí discovered cannabis worth €23,466 in the property, which the court heard was Mr Sheahan’s second crop, having already made a €5,000 profit from his first crop.