Judge ‘sick of blackguards who blow in from Dublin’
A JUDGE has blasted a ‘blackguard from Dublin’ for going on a high-speed chase with gardaí and said he is ‘sick and tired’ of people who ‘blow in’ to rural Ireland and think they can do whatever they want.
At Kilrush District Court in Co. Clare, Judge Patrick Durcan denounced the ‘blackguardy behaviour by a blackguard from Dublin who blew in here for a period and the only commendable thing about him is that he has now blown out again’.
Judge Durcan added: ‘I am getting sick and tired of people who think that they can blow in to rural Ireland, lead a particular lifestyle and then blow out [of here] when they want out.’
Judge Durcan made his comments before jailing Karl Quinn, 23, for three months after a garda said he didn’t know how someone wasn’t killed or injured by Quinn’s dangerous driving, in which he knocked into traffic cones on both sides of a Kilkee street while being chased by gardaí. The judge also hit out at Quinn, originally from Dublin, for suggesting that he felt isolated in west Clare.
‘What is isolating about down here? I know the West Clare Railway is gone but isn’t this one of the most wonderful parts of the country in terms of music, sport and craic? You name it, you have it here,’ he said. Judge Durcan said that Quinn’s behaviour on the August bank holiday last year ‘was nothing short of disgraceful and scandalous’.
Garda Micheál O’Gorman said Quinn’s driving that day was ‘as bad as I have seen’.
Quinn who had a Co. Clare address of Victoria Crescent, Kilkee pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at Erin Street, Kilkee and refusing to provide a specimen for a drink driving test on August 4 last.
Judge Durcan also banned Quinn from driving for four years. Quinn told the court: ‘I’m ashamed of what I did, I want all of this to go away. I never did s**t like that. I was having a bad time. I want to apologise to the gardaí.’
Solicitor for Quinn, Shíofra Hassett, said that her client moved down to Kilkee to be with his partner and they have two boys, aged two and one. Ms Hassett said that Quinn’s time in Kilkee didn’t go well and he felt isolated.
He said that Quinn and his family have relocated back to Dublin where they are currently staying in a hotel and trying to secure accommodation.
Quinn has appealed the jail term and is free pending the hearing of his appeal in the circuit court.
‘What’s isolated about west Clare?’