‘Minister has not yet answered all queries’

THE chairwoman of a road safety group has expressed concern that novice minister Barry Cowen never sat a driving test before his drink-driving ban in 2016.

Mr Cowen apologised in the Dáil this week for a ‘grave’ error of judgment that led to drink-driving conviction back in 2016, which he failed to tell Taoiseach Micheál Martin about before he was elevated to Agriculture Minister.

Susan Gray – who founded PARC Road Safety Group in 2006 after her husband Stephen died in a crash involving an unaccompanied learner driver in 2004 – said Mr Cowen told her he had never sat his driving test up until the incident.

She said: ‘[On Tuesday] on the phone he admitted to me he’d never sat a driving test – he applied for it years and years ago and did not attend... until he passed the test a few years ago, he kept letting his permit roll over.’

She went on to tell RTÉ Radio yesterday: ‘He has not answered all of the questions we have asked him so we are calling on the new Taoiseach to get answers on the outstanding issues.’

‘We’re calling on Micheál Martin to call in Barry Cowen, sit down with him and clarify every law that he has broke... what kind of man are we dealing with here?’ she added.

Ms Gray said she wants to know how many learner permits Mr Cowen had before he passed his driving test, when he passed his test, and if he displayed ‘N’ (novice) plates for two years after passing his test. She said that despite Mr Cowen’s apology this week, the issue ‘cannot be allowed to go away’.