Longford man has drunk driving conviction overturned on appeal

A man who appealed a District Court conviction for drunk driving had the penalties against him removed in the Circuit Court.
Gerald Farley (27) of Rathcor, Granard, Longford was fined €200 and disqualified from driving for three years in Longford District Court on June 29, 2023.

Mr Farley's conviction was in respect of an incident on June 18, 2022 at Tubber, Granard, Longford of driving or attempting to drive with a quantity of alcohol in his system above the legal limit.
Garda Yvonne Glacken was on mobile patrol at Smear near Aughnacliffe at 6:30am when she observed a Skoda Octavia parked at the side of the road.

Although it was daylight the vehicle had all of its lights on and the engine was running.
Garda Glacken approached the car and saw a male asleep in the driver's seat with the keys in the ignitions. There was an open can of Bulmers cider in the cup holder. The officer noted that the passenger side mirror of the car was broken.

The Garda turned off the ignition and when the appellant woke she made the lawful demand for his drivers licence. The driver, Mr Farley, produced a full license, but the officer noted that the insurance had expired on June 4.
Garda Glacken noted a strong smell of alcohol, Mr Farley's eyes were red and his speech was slurred. The Garda asked if he was drinking and Mr Farley said he had been earlier in the evening.

The officer formed the opinion the driver was intoxicated and arrested him at 6:45am.
The appellant was cautioned and brought to Granard Garda Station. A doctor arrived at 8:12am, at which point Mr Farley provided a blood specimen. When analysed at the lab the sample produced a reading go 173mg/100ml, The current drink-driving limit is a 50mg.

Having heard the evidence, counsel for the defence, Niall Flynn BL, made two points to Judge Kenneth Connolly. Mr Flynn maintained the appellant did not make a fully informed decision about providing a sample as he was not informed of the penalty, the second was that it had not been confirmed in direct evidence that the car was in a public place when Garda Glacken saw it.

Mr Flynn said the only mention of a public place was when the witness was citing the charge. Judge Connolly said he had to give the appellant the benefit of the doubt and allow the appeal and remove all penalties.