The 23-year-old man cannot be named following a court ruling as he is associated with three others, including his father, who are still before the courts.
The four were arrested following a large scale garda operation involving 20 officers who analysed and collected data over a period of two years.
Their results were then forwarded to a senior intelligence analyst who compiled a report for the prosecution of the case.
The man pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 13 sample charges including the possession of false identification cards and driving licenses, deception charges, money laundering and trafficking of illegal immigrants between October 5th, 2017 and May 23rd, 2019.
The man has previous convictions for having no insurance and having a false driving license, insurance and tax disc.
Detective Sergeant Anthony Collins told Gráinne O'Neill BL, prosecuting, that he became involved in the investigation in the middle of last year but it had been going on since 2017 following a referral from another country.
Authorities here were informed that a passenger had attempted to board a flight to Ireland using false documentation that appeared to have been couriered using a Dublin address.
He said through looking into the incident further it became apparent that there was “a pattern of offending” in that these documents were being prepared in Ireland using passport photographs of the intended recipient and bearing fictitious names.
He said the investigation, which included analysing CCTV footage from DHL at the airport, the General Post Office and various money transfer companies, led to the arrest of the four who are currently before the courts.
“It is the State's case that there is a number of people involved,” Det Sgt Collins said as Ms O'Neill handed in a page of the senior analyst report which depicted two family trees and identified the accused and the three other accused within these families.
'Very busy cog'
Luigi Rea BL, defending, submitted that his client was “a very small cog in a very large sophisticated organisation” to which Judge Martin Nolan replied; “He was a very busy cog”.
Mr Rea asked the court to take into account that he was the youngest member involved, that he had pleaded guilty at an early stage and suggested that “he has clearly learned a lesson”. He said his client has been in custody since his arrest in December 2019 and “now knows what prison is like”.
Judge Nolan said the man was involved in “an enterprise that facilitated the illegal immigration of people into this country” by distributing false documentation that allowed the recipients to travel on.
“He had his place in the hierarchy. He didn't have the ability to create the documents but he was involved in their distribution and in receipt of certain money for them,” Judge Nolan continued before he described the man as “a vital cog”.
The judge said the gardaí were alerted by authorities from other countries that the documents had been shipped from Ireland and “they investigated it and investigated it well”.
Judge Nolan acknowledged that the man had pleaded guilty but said it was “a serious crime and the surrounding circumstances of the crimes are serious”.
He noted his plea of guilty, his lack of serious previous convictions and the fact that he seemed well capable of working following his release from prison.
“He involved himself by reason of his relationship with other people but he knew the difference between right and wrong and unfortunately for him he adopted the wrong course,” Judge Nolan said before he added that the man deserved a custodial sentence and jailed him for three years.
The three other people are due to be listed in the coming weeks at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. They have yet to indicate whether they will elect for a trial or plead guilty to the offences.
