Mother and son up before Longford District Court for separate drugs and driving offences

'When is a driving licence not a driving licence?' was a question raised by Judge Deirdre Gearty at last week's sitting of Longford District Court.

The matter came into focus after solicitor Frank Gearty explained that his client, Leon Duffy, a learner driver, was stopped by Gardaí for driving unaccompanied when he was driving to the gym “a very short distance from his house, less than half a mile.”

“Yes, but he needs to get his test and drive that car himself!” remarked Judge Deirdre Gearty, adding, “he’s probably not insured!”

“The powers that be will allege that a permit licence is not a licence but I argue that it is. It’s a debate we don’t have to have today but it’s an ongoing one,” said Mr Gearty.

Judge Gearty had just minutes earlier ordered Mr Duffy of 50 Meadowbrook, Tulsk, County Roscommon, to pay €150 to the court poor box for a previous incident that occurred on Main Street Longford on November 21 2024.
During that incident the defendant was found to have been in unlawful possession of a controlled drug, namely cannabis and speaking in relation to the road traffic offence, she added, “The difficulty I have is that he got the benefit of the poor box and here we are in relation to a matter on March 15.

"I’ll leave it at the fixed penalty notice of €320.” Mr Duffy was given five months to pay the fine.

His mother, Caroline Duffy, also of 50 Meadowbrook, Tulsk, County Roscommon, who was in court for a separate offence, namely that of being in unlawful possession of cannabis at a Longford address on July 11 2024, was ordered to pay €350 to the court poor box.

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