The perils of trying to drive the morning after were brought home to a young man in the Athlone District Court this week (March 11 ) when he was banned from the roads for two years and one week after being convicted of drink driving.
Ronan Eivers, a 22-year-old plumbing apprentice from Rathonrath, Mullingar, was stopped on the morning of February 19 at Bonavalley, Athlone and when arrested, gave an intoxiliser reading of 46 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
After Eivers pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, his solicitor, Mr Padraig Quinn, outlined his client's unlucky circumstances to the court.
“He had been out the previous night and had parked in town,” said Mr Quinn.
“In the morning, he went to collect his car and thought that he'd be all right [to drive].
“He only came to Garda attention when he took a call on his mobile.Judge Timothy Lucey accepted this but was statutorily mandated to ban Eivers for at least two years and fined him €400.
He added the extra week to allow the defendant appeal his ban within the two years.
At the most recent update of the drink driving laws in 2007, it was decreed that no-one could appeal for re-instatement of their licence if they'd been banned for two years or less.
This has led to the practice of judges applying a discretionary sympathy with some defendants by banning them for two years and a small addition, be it a day or, in this case, a week.
