A 47-year-old married father of two was disqualified from driving for three years at this week’s sitting of Castlebar District Court.
Brendan Irwin, 14 An Sruthan, Castlebar, was stopped by gardaí on July 10 2012 at 4.28pm in the Knockthomas area as the defendant was not wearing a seatbelt. A fixed charge penalty notice was issued for this however it went unpaid. Irwin was arrested for drink driving and a breath sample provided at the Garda station showed 90mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. Irwin did not have an NCT certificate for his car.
The defendant has one previous road traffic conviction for holding a mobile phone while driving.
The court heard that Irwin had gone for a drink after work the day he was stopped. The defendant had just bought the van but was not able to afford to fix it for the NCT.
Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined him €400 and disqualified him from driving for three years.
