So lucky I didn’t kill anyone, says Cowen
BARRY Cowen has admitted that he made a ‘stupid, stupid’ mistake by drink driving and said he was lucky nobody was killed.
The new Agriculture Minister said he is ‘very regretful’ and that the negative publicity is part of the punishment, ‘which is only right and proper’.
He told RTÉ television’s The Week In Politics: ‘I am in public life, I have to accept responsibility for my actions. It was a serious lapse of judgment. I am humiliated by it, embarrassed by it and would have to accept the punishment that has been given, to accept the ridicule that is there now.
‘I could say I was fortunate in that there was nobody hurt, injured or maimed, or killed, thankfully, but that is not to say that would be the case in any other instance of a similar nature,’ he said.
In 2016, he was driving home from the All-Ireland football final when he was stopped by gardaí and tested. When the second test was carried out at the Garda station he was found to be over the limit.
He said he had two drinks before the match and food afterwards. He was driving on a provisional licence and admitted being accompanied he drove without by a licence holder, which is against the law. He was fined €200 and suspended from driving for three months but it did not go to court because the level of alcohol did not reach the minimum for prosecution.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin only found out about the conviction have ‘People told have on the Friday. said, Taoiseach, should I should of Fianna I have Fáil? told Yes, the naively leader in hindsight, maybe I should. Maybe I should have stood up in the Dáil and led from the front on this issue and acknowledged my terrible mistake,’ he said, adding he ‘wasn’t trying to keep it a secret’.
‘I in no way tried to remove myself from the severity of what had happened.
‘I in no way tried to remove myself from the implications and I took the medicine that was dished at the time.’ However, Mr Cowen still believes that he is fit to be a minister. ‘The law and the legislation, as it was, had ramifications. I accepted those ramifications,’ he said. ‘This is an issue that I have to bear full responsibility for. I acknowledge and appreciate the severity of it,’ he said. ‘I know the hurt and harm it is doing to people who have been affected by drunk drivers who have caused injury, maiming and the loss of life and that is something that I have to carry with me and use it to a positive effect if I can at all.’ He said that he hopes that his experience can serve as a reminder to people to not do as he did. Minister Cowen has also admitted he has had other driving issues, that were relating to speeding and parking but nothing on the level of drink driving.
‘Maybe I should have told Dáil’