Cowen fined for speeding as learner before drink driving ban
:: TD in court weeks before alcohol incident :: Minister to make Dáil statement tonight
EMBATTLED Agriculture Minister Barry Cowen was up in court for speeding on his learner driver licence just three months before his ban for drink-driving.
Mr Cowen was banned from driving after being caught over the limit four years ago in September 2016.
It emerged yesterday that Mr Cowen, then a Fianna Fáil TD, also appeared before Dublin District
Court in June 2016 on a speeding charge. He was fined €200 for breaking the special 60kmh limit at Palmerstown in Dublin in July 2015.
The minister will make a statement in the Dáil on the drink-drive matter this evening as the Government seeks to end to the controversy.
Mr Martin will not ask his Agriculture Minister to step down over the drink-driving ban, as the incident was “dealt with at the time”.
However, road safety campaigners say Mr Cowen has “a lot of unanswered questions”, particularly around his learner driver licence.
The Offaly TD was disqualified from driving for three months after he was found to be over the limit when he was breathalysed at a Garda checkpoint.
Driving on a provisional licence, Mr Cowen was stopped by gardaí four years ago, halfway between Dublin and his home in Offaly.
The Fianna Fáil TD was on his way back from the All-Ireland football final. He had two drinks before the game and something to eat after it.
Mr Cowen was breath-tested on the spot, where alcohol was detected. He was again tested at a Garda station. He was found to be over the limit.
Mr Cowen was punished with a Fixed Charge Penalty Notice, a €200 fine, and he was disqualified from driving for three months.
The case did not go to court as the amount of alcohol in his system did not reach the level required for a prosecution.
Members of the Cowen family and Fianna Fáil members in Offaly have rallied to defend the minister and attack media coverage of his drink-driving ban.
The Parc road safety group says there are a lot of unanswered questions around Mr Cowen’s ban. Parc chairperson Susan Grey said she wanted to see Mr Cowen provide answers around his licence.
“We would expect a man of his years and position to have a full driver’s licence. How many times did he renew his provisional licence or learner permit? Did he sit the driving test to obtain or renew his permit each time or did the RSA simply renew it without sitting the test?
“As a learner, did he have an experienced driver every day he drove to his work in the Dáil or are these laws only for us ordinary folk and not for the people who make the laws?
“Why did his accompanied qualified driver not drive that day? Is he a novice driver now and displaying N plates as is the requirement for two years after passing the test?
“He has to show he is a responsible member of society before he lectures us as a minister,” she added.
Mr Cowen referenced his speeding on RTÉ’s ‘The Week In Politics’ on Sunday, but did not provide any specifics. “I would have the same issues in relation to speeding and parking as any others,” he said.
Aside from his speeding conviction, the Fianna Fáil TD also chalked up a number of court appearances for parking tickets in Tullamore and Portlaoise from 2004 to 2005.
He was fined €200 in 2006 for illegally parking on Main Street, Portlaoise, in May 2005. He was fined €250 in December 2004 for parking on Patrick Street, Tullamore; another €100 for parking on the same street in February 2005. He was fined €100 for parking on O’Connor Square, Tullamore, in September 2005.
At the time of the parking offences, he was a councillor.
Mr Cowen asked Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Feargháil for time to address the Dáil.
The Agriculture Minister is expected to be granted his request to speak tonight. However, it is not clear whether he will be asked questions.
Mr Martin was asked if Mr Cowen provided an explanation for why he drove on a provisional licence for so long.
“In relation to Minister Barry Cowen, he has articulated his profound regret, and sorrow and shame at what transpired four years ago.
“I became aware of this on Friday. It’s deeply, deeply regrettable. It shouldn’t have happened.
“In terms of... it can happen historically people have availed of the provisional licence regime. That was a tendency in Ireland. Not everybody availed of it. I’m not excusing it.
“I believe and accept that his remorse is genuine and he will be making a statement to the Dáil in relation to it and he’s asked the Ceann Comhairle to facilitate that,” he said.
Meanwhile, supporters of Mr Cowen have leapt to his defence and were backed by a family member. Former Ógra Fianna Fáil organiser Eimhin Boland attacked the Irish Independent. “Gutter journalism. He’s acknowledged his wrongdoing, sincerely apologised for it and was penalised accordingly. You’d think that’d be enough, but no,” he said on Twitter.
Mr Cowen’s niece, Sinéad, the eldest daughter of former Taoiseach Brian Cowen, appeared to support this view by liking the statement on social media, along with several local Fianna Fáil activists and party Senator Fiona O’Loughlin.
Mr Cowen has previously told the Irish Independent he is “profoundly sorry for having made that mistake”, adding that it was an “appalling lapse of judgment”.
Speaking to Red FM presenter Neil Prendeville, Mr Martin said he told the newly appointed minister, “you should have alerted me to that”, adding: “He said he was very ashamed of it and it was
‘The test showed I was marginally over the limit’
an appalling lapse of judgment on his part. He accepted the punishment at the time.”
When asked whether Mr Cowen should be removed from Cabinet, Mr Martin said: “In terms of justice being meted out, it did get dealt with at the time, four years ago. Are you going to condemn someone for the rest of their lives for something that might have happened four years ago, or five years ago?
“I think there was an issue of proportionality in that regard.”
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said it would be appropriate for Mr Cowen to make a statement in the Dáil about his drink-driving incident.
She was speaking after she met the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris for the first time at Slane Garda Station in Co Meath.
The incident itself occurred on September 18, 2016, at 8.18pm. The drawn All-Ireland football final between Dublin and Mayo was played that day.
Mr Cowen was stopped at a Garda checkpoint at Kilshanroe, Carbury, Co Kildare, at 8.18pm. The location is near the M4 Dublin to Galway motorway at Enfield and close to the Offaly border.
He was driving an 09-D registered, light-coloured, Renault Megane.
Mr Cowen was 49 when the incident occurred.
Mr Cowen said he was “ashamed of it and embarrassed by it”.
“It was the day of the All-Ireland football final. I had two drinks before the game and something to eat after it and drove back to Offaly,” he said.
The Fianna Fáil TD was dropping a friend home on the way to his own home in Clara, Co Offaly.
Mr Cowen said he was driving towards Edenderry, near Carbury, when he was stopped by a garda and breathalysed.
“That test and the subsequent test at the station showed I was marginally over the limit,” he said.