...and another embarrassing day for whip Regina Doherty
FINE Gael TD Regina Doherty added to her list of recent gaffes when she overlooked returning a fixed penalty notice for a speeding offence and ended up in Trim district court this week.
The operator of a Go Safe van gave evidence that Ms Doherty from Ratoath in Co. Meath had been caught breaking a special 60km speed limit in January.
Ironically, in her blog in November last year she had written about the need for safe driving.
She wrote: ‘I have long been campaigning for safer roads, but I believe enforcement (of the laws) is the key, I believe that it has to be about changing our mindsets.’
The speeding incident happened at Kilcarn, on the old Navan to Dublin road, on January 6. The FG deputy explained to Judge William Hamill this week that she had received the fixed penalty notice in the post but had sent it back too late. She was fined €140.
It’s the latest in a string of incidents for the newly-appointed chief whip. In May, in the same week she said Irish Water bills ‘won’t magically disappear’, Ms Doherty did not respond to requests for comment on whether her company had paid its debts.
The MoS reported that Enhanced Solutions ran into financial difficulty in 2011 and subsequently had to be liquidated.
It’s understood the firm’s total losses were in the region of €280,000 with large sums owed to AIB and Revenue.
She then, on a day when the Dáil was unable to start business because not enough Fine Gael TDs turned up to form a quorum, went on local radio suggesting Enda Kenny should give a timeline for his departure. She later said her comments had been misinterpreted.
Last week it emerged that Ms Doherty gave character evidence for a former accountant convicted of company law offences.