A Ballyhaunis man who pleaded guilty to using green diesel in his pick-up truck was given a €2,500 fine which was mitigated down from the maximum possible fine of €5,000 at Ballyhaunis District Court this week
Customs officer Gerard Henry told the court that on December 11 2011 at 1.55pm he approached a pick-up truck at The Maples, Ballyhaunis, in which Seamus McDonagh, 89 The Maples, Ballyhaunis was sitting in the driver’s seat. He told the court that he demanded to take a sample from the fuel tank of the pick-up and McDonagh allowed him to. When the sample was tested at the roadside it came back as positive for green diesel. When asked how the diesel had got in his truck, Henry told the court that McDonagh told him that he had no idea, but his brother was using it and maybe he had put it in.
Solicitor for McDonagh, Mr Evan O’Dwyer, said that his client was admitting to it being there. He said his client was a father of seven who had the pick-up for tending to horses at the time, but he has since got rid of the pick-up and the horses. Judge Mary Devins convicted McDonagh and mitigated the fine to the lowest level she could of €2,500 and gave McDonagh six months to pay.
