One-third of young men take lift from drunk driver

AA Ireland spokesman Conor Faughnan

ONE in three young men have travelled in a car driven by somebody over the drink-drive limit in the past year.

A study has found that 30pc of males aged 17-24 got into a car where they knew that the driver was either under the influence of alcohol, or severely hungover.

This figure compared to 19pc of women of the same age bracket, according to the AA online survey.

With many people watching the World Cup in their local pubs, Conor Faughnan of AA Ireland urges young people not to take a lift from someone that they suspect to be over the limit.

“Please give a bit of thought to how you’ll get home at the end of the night, whether it’s a taxi, public transport or a designated driver,” he said.

The highest percentage of respondents was recorded in Wicklow, with over one in five people admitting to getting in a car with a driver that they suspected had drunk more than they should have.

Louth (19pc), Kilkenny (17pc), Longford (17pc) and Meath (17pc) followed closely behind, with Monaghan (4pc) proving to be the most responsible county on this issue.

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Mr Faughnan also urged people – particularly young males – not to underestimate their blood alcohol levels the morning after a drinking session.

According to the poll, 59pc of males aged between 17 and 24 admitted to running the risk of driving while still over the legally permissible limit the morning after the night before.

Almost seven in 10 of men in this age bracket said that they had gotten into a car where the driver was “severely hungover” in the previous 12-month period.

“The range of symptoms that arise from a hangover can significantly impair your ability to drive and can make you potentially as dangerous as an intoxicated driver,” said Mr Faughnan.

The poll showed that, overall, 13pc of the 14,884 respondents said they that in the previous year they had travelled in a car with someone they knew was over the drink-drive limit.

Original post can be found at: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/onethird-of-young-men-take-lift-from-drunk-driver-30375682.html

Lack of resources blamed for fall in number of points issued

Minister of Transport, Tourism and Sport Paschal Donohoe showcasing new Garda traffic impairment testing strategies

Since the original post was published, much scandal has been reported on with regards to the Irish penalty points system. In September, Garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe accused gardai of continuing to cancel penalty points for friends and colleagues, despite new procedures introduced this summer.

THE number of penalty points issued on Irish roads fell by almost 12pc in 2013, with drivers in Dublin the biggest offenders.

Despite the increase in the number of road deaths, gardai issued 28,672 fewer points than in 2012.

Figures, released by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, showed that 43,171 offences were recorded in Dublin, accounting for 20pc of the country’s total.

The overall amount of people disqualified from driving also dropped, from 263 in 2012 to 245 in 2013. Director for Consumer Affairs for AA Ireland, Conor Faughnan, said that the statistics were a worrying indication of what’s happening on Irish roads.

“If the number of collisions is up, the amount of traffic on the roads is up and the number of deaths are up, how is it possible that the number of penalty points is down?” he asked.

More than half of drivers put off the road were from Dublin, where 125 reached the 12-point maximum limit. This is an increase of 19 motorists banned in the capital last year.

Leitrim (1,424) continued to be the county with the least amount of penalty points, with less than 1pc of the total issued. Longford was close behind with 1,946 offences penalised.

Speeding was the single biggest offence and accounted for 77pc of points recorded.

People that were caught driving while holding their phones were the second highest offenders (11pc), although the number of people sanctioned was down by 2,349 from the previous year.

There was a massive drop in the number of people penalised for not wearing a seatbelt. The figure fell from 5,691 in 2012 to just 378 last year.

Tipperary saw the greatest increase in the number of points received by drivers, with an additional 1,307 issued since 2012.

Eight other counties recorded a hike in penalty points: Carlow (+247), Cavan (+195), Kilkenny (+118), Laois (+347), Mayo (+324), Monaghan (+434), Waterford (+753) and Wexford (+459).

Nearly 16pc of those handed penalty points either had no driver number or didn’t hold an Irish licence.

Mr Faughnan backed comments by outgoing chairperson of the Road Safety Authority, Gay Byrne, who said that there weren’t enough gardai out and about on the roads.

“The problem in 2013 was that we didn’t invest in the traffic corps because the proper resources aren’t being provided by the Government,” Mr Faughnan explained.

Despite his criticisms, Mr Faughnan emphasised his support for the members of An Garda Siochana, who work on the road.

“The problems at the moment are not the fault of the gardai.

“The AA have engaged with all members of the force and I know first-hand that they are very passionate about improving conditions on the road, but their hands are tied because they can’t complain,” he added.

Original post can be found at: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/lack-of-resources-blamed-for-fall-in-number-of-points-issued-30393780.html

Judge who sentenced O’Reilly and Lillis retires

Mr Justice White

CENTRAL Criminal Court judge Mr Justice Barry White, who has presided over some of the country’s most high-profile rape and murder trials in Ireland, retired from the bench in September.

Mr Justice White, who presided over the Joe O’Reilly and Eamon Lillis murder trials, amongst others, said that “the guillotine” has come down on a legal career spanning 47 years.

“I will not be here next term,” Mr Justice White told lawyers in July at the Central Criminal Court, where the most serious offences in the criminal calendar are tried.

The retirement of the occasionally outspoken judge, who turns 70 this year, had been flagged in advance by Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, the President of the High Court.

Earlier this year Mr Justice Kearns expressed concern about the departure of some of the country’s most senior judges through attrition as well as to meet the staffing needs of the new Court of Appeal.

Mr Justice White, who was one of the country’s best known criminal defence lawyers before he was appointed to the High Court in 2002, has handed down sentences on some of the most prolific murder and rape cases in recent years.

In 2007 he sentenced Joe O’Reilly to life after he was convicted for the murder of his wife Rachel O’Reilly in 2004.

In another case of wife-killing, Mr Justice White sentenced Eamonn Lillis to six years and 11 months in prison for the manslaughter of his wife Celine Cawley in 2008.

Lillis, who is due for release next year, was initially shocked by the harshness of the sentence.

But the judge explained that the defendant had been “selfish” in how he had acted during the case. “Your expression of sorrow and remorse rings hollow to me and I consider it to be self-serving,” he said before handing down sentence.

Mr Justice White has been known to be outspoken in his criticism of some of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution’s decisions in some cases.

In 2012, the judge disagreed with the DPP’s decision to accept the pleas of two men involved in the manslaughter of Polish national Lukasz Rzeszutko.

When sentencing Stephen Byrne and Edward Byrne, the judge said that if he thought life sentences would “stand the test of the Court of Criminal Appeal” he would have had no hesitation in handing them down to the pair.

In June, Mr Justice White criticised the DPP for accepting a plea for attempted rape when he believed that it was “irreconcilable and inconsistent” with what evidence suggested.

Mr Justice White studied at the Kings Inn and UCD and was called to the Bar in 1967, as well as the Inner Bar in 1982.

Original post can be found at: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/judge-who-sentenced-oreilly-and-lillis-set-to-retire-30413210.html

Street dealers are targeted in major garda drugs blitz

Credit: Canadian Pacific via Flickr

MORE than two dozen suspects will appear on drug dealing charges in Dublin district court tomorrow after a series of garda raids across Dublin’s north inner city.

The garda searches were part of an operation, codenamed Tempest, set up to focus on suspected street dealers after complaints from local residents and business communities.

More than 100 officers were involved in the blitz on suspects’ homes yesterday morning following a six-month covert operation to identify those believed responsible for the drugs scourge in the north inner city.

During the 46 searches gardai seized small quantities of heroin, cocaine, cannabis, several minor hauls of cash and drug linked equipment. Other searches had already been carried out in the Bridewell area of the inner city last week.

Tempest resulted in 30 arrests while another 15 suspects have yet to be interviewed by gardai as they were either missing from their homes when the raids were being carried out or are already locked up in jail in connection with other offences.

Officers said Tempest was expected to result in almost 100 drugs sale and supply charges being brought against 45 people. It was set up after gardai interviewed 8,000 residents in the area to identify the main policing issues.

With help from the Garda national drugs unit, community policing officers planned the raids in the Store Street, Mountjoy and Bridewell garda districts after undercover officers purchased drug deals from suspected street traffickers.

Tempest is linked to Operation Cleanstreets, which has targeted several key districts where drug dealing is regarded as a serious problem.

Officers from the gardai’s north central division were also backed up by members of the Emergency Response Unit, the Air Support Unit and the Dog Unit.

The search teams were directed to gather at Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park at 6.30am yesterday and were given their targeted addresses before setting out in convoy 40 minutes later.

Chief Supt Pat Leahy, who led the operation, told the Irish Independent that the 30 arrests were in addition to 55 carried out in recent weeks under Operation Spire, which is aimed at drug dealing in the city centre.

He said Tempest was a direct response to community concerns identified during door to door discussions by community officers with the 8,000 residents since the start of the year.

Tempest targeted alleged dealers selling or supplying drugs to local communities which had a significant negative impact on the quality of life enjoyed by residents and on businesses in the area.

He said that while this had been a major operation, it had been supported by several smaller measures, reflecting a bottom up approach to policing.

“Over the past four years, we have engaged in the small areas policing project where we mapped out the north inner city area and restructured the way our community gardai carried out their work by assigning them very specific areas,” said Leahy.

Original post, written with Tom Brady can be found at: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/street-dealers-are-targeted-in-major-garda-drugs-blitz-30521244.html