Longford motorist fined €1,000 and banned from driving for three years

A man who “should have been keeping his eye on the road” was fined a total of €1,000 and banned from driving for three years at Longford District Court.

Sean Reilly (49) of 1 Parc Na Habhainn, Edgeworthstown, Longford, was before the court on four charges connected with incidents on two separate days.

Mr Reilly was charged with two counts of dangerous driving; one from August 26, 2023 at Tinnyard N4/N5 Dublin Rd, Edgeworthstown Longford and one from Kilnasavogue, N4 Padraic Colum Roundabout, Longford on the same date, which was reduced to careless driving.

The defendant was also charged with drink driving on June 16, 2023, at Dublin Rd, Edgeworthstown.

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Sergeant Enda Daly informed Judge Bernadette Owens that for the August offence a member of the public called the Garda station alleging there was an incident of dangerous driving by a motorist entering one of the roundabouts in Edgeworthstown.

The vehicle, which hit off the centre divide, was driven by Mr Reilly. There was a female front seat passenger and a child was moving around in the back.

The call to Gardaí was because of the manner of driving; there were allegations the vehicle swerved over the continuous white line.

Mr Reilly entered a plea of guilty to careless driving.

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The drink driving charge arose when Garda O'Keefe attended at a road traffic collision on the Dublin Road, Longford while on mobile patrol at 9:20pm.

The officer noted there was a smell of alcohol off the driver, Mr Reilly. The defendant was brought to Longford Garda station and a breath test returned a reading of 75/100.

The defendant had no previous convictions. Solicitor Brid Mimnagh explained that her client was “going through a difficult patch” at the time. Ms Mimnagh said the defendant had no previous convictions.

The solicitor said the father of three was “putting his hands up” and wanted to “get everything dealt with”.

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Ms Mimnagh said her client believed that the careless driving incident occurred when he looked back at his child, but he realised he “should have been keeping his eye on the road”.

Judge Owens registered a conviction and imposed a fine of €500 for the careless driving and a further fine of €500 for the drink driving offence.

Mr Reilly was also banned from the road for three years.

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