COWEN: ‘I SHOULD NOT HAVE DRIVEN ON LEARNER PERMIT’
AGRICULTURE Minister
Barry Cowen has admitted he should not have been driving on a learner permit when he was banned for drink-driving four years ago.
He was under fire yesterday after details of a previously undisclosed three-month driving ban
were revealed by the Irish
Independent.
Cowen did not inform the Taoiseach before being appointed to Cabinet last weekend, and last night the Green Party declined to express confidence in their new Government colleague.
Cowen has said he is “profoundly sorry” and Martin has backed his minister while expressing disappointment that he was not told about it.
Barry Cowen was stopped at a checkpoint on his way home from the AllIreland Football Final in September 2016. He was breathalysed, found to be over the limit and was later issued with a fixed-charge penalty notice, €200 fine and a three-month driving ban.
The Minister was not driving on a full licence and was hit with a three-month road ban because he was on a learner permit. Cowen, who was 49 when the incident occurred, told the Sunday
Independent last night he should not have been driving on a provisional licence.
“At that time I had, like many drivers in Ireland, allowed the situation where I was permitted under the law to continue to drive as a provisional licence holder to persist. I should not have done this and I have regularised and updated my licence since.”
It is unclear how long Cowen was driving on a learner permit, or when he “regularised and updated” his licence.
The Green Party leader and new Transport Minister Eamon Ryan declined an opportunity to express confidence in Barry Cowen yesterday. “No comment from Eamon,” a spokesman for
Ryan said.
A spokesman for Tanaiste Leo Varadkar did not respond to repeated requests for a comment from Leo Varadkar on the matter. However, Fine Gael appeared to back the Offaly TD as Minister of State Damien English told RTE that his new Government colleague made a mistake and was wrong.
“No one knows better than Barry that he was wrong on this, and he’s made that clear. And that’s number one for me, it’s not trying to defend it or excuse it. He straight up says he was wrong, he was caught, he took his punishment and for me it’s very important that no matter who you are, the rigours of the law are there.”
English declined to be drawn on whether Cowen should have notified the Taoiseach, saying “that’s up to them”.
Martin’s spokesperson yesterday declined to comment on whether Cowen would have been appointed to Cabinet had the Taoiseach known about the offence in advance of last Saturday.