A professional drag queen stopped for drink driving after a charity event told Galway District Court this week that he did not walk the five minutes to his home because it was not safe to do so in the city while dressed up as he was.
Eamon Cunniss (38 ) with an address in Bohermore who pleaded guilty to drink driving at Eyre Square on February 6, 2011, was later fined €500 with three months to pay and disqualified from driving for a mandatory 12 months.
Inspector Mick Coppinger told the court that at 3.17am the defendant was stopped on suspicion of drink driving and later gave a intoxiliser breath sample of 43 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath.
Defence solicitor Ciara Macklin said that the loss of a driving licence would have a profound affect on her client who is a dance teacher and performer, regularly travelling by car and clocking up 900 miles per week. She added that on the night in question Cunniss had been taking part in a charity event in the city.
Noting the defendant’s address, Judge Fahy asked why Cunniss did not take a five minute walk to his house. Cunniss explained that it would not have been safe for him to walk to his home in Bohermore because he was dressed as a drag queen and that while it is acceptable to do so in Dublin it was not in Galway city.
When Judge Fahy quibbed that he should always bring a pair of flats with him, Cunniss replied: “I do, in my handbag, but it is not very ladylike”.
The defendant, through his solicitor, asked for the disqualification to be postponed as he was due to participate in a number of charity events over the Christmas period.
Judge Fahy then noted that it was unfortunate that Cunniss had not taken the decision to walk home to which Cunniss replied: “I had five G&Ts over the whole night, I didn’t think that would be enough to put me over. And I had a few sausages in the pub.”
“You need to be careful in future. Now when you are doing charity events you have to drink 7Up or water if you are driving,” said Judge Fahy who postponed the disqualification until February 1, 2012.
