Driving while banned was ‘no mistake’

A BALLYCONNELL man has been given a suspended prison sentence and disqualified from driving for six years after he pleaded guilty to driving offences.

The vehicle being driven by Michael Byrne of Bothar Glas, Ballyconnell, was stopped at Kilnaglare Upper near Butlersbridge when Gda Lee established Byrne had neither insurance nor a licence for driving. When he appeared before Judge Raymond Finnegan last month, Michael Byrne pleaded guilty to the two offences and one of failing to produce insurance documents at a later date.

Sergeant Lisa McEntee told the judge that Byrne has 16 previous convictions, three of which were for having no insurance.

In February 2023 in the circuit court, Byrne was convicted of driving without insurance and was disqualified from driving for four years.“This is not good,” Judge Finnegan commented.

“He is 63 years old, has 11 children in all, used to work as a drummer with Joe Dolan,” Mr Byrne’s solicitor, Garrett Fortune, said.

“That’s the good news. The bad news is he was disqualified from driving at the time he was stopped.”

The solicitor also pointed to how his client has “other matters coming down the line”, which happened two weeks apart.

“He does accept he shouldn’t have driven on occasion,” Mr Fortune said. “He made a mistake.”

“That is not a mistake,” the judge said and convicted Michael Byrne of driving without a licence fining him €400.

For no insurance, the judge imposed a five-month prison sentence but suspended it for a period of two years on condition that Byrne does not re-offend during that time. He was also disqualified from driving for six years. The charge of failing to produce an insurance cert was taken into consideration. He has five months to pay his fine.