Former Kerry footballer Darragh Ó Sé will be banned from driving for three years after he lost an appeal against a drink driving conviction.
Mr Ó Sé of 5 Mounthawk Manor, Tralee, was convicted in 2021 after a urine sample showed he was driving his car while six times over the legal limit for alcohol.
He appealed this conviction, and this appeal hearing came before Judge Sinéad Behan at Tralee Circuit Court yesterday evening.
The appeal centred around the defence’s assertion that Mr Ó Sé had been denied access to legal advice when he had sought it.
Sergeant James Hurley gave evidence that at 11:45pm on 12th August 2020, he was on duty in an unmarked garda car in Caherslee, Tralee, when he noticed a car in front of him weaving over and back on the road.
Sgt Hurley said Mr Ó Sé received a preliminary fail on a breathalyser, and was unsteady on his feet after stepping out of the vehicle.
Mr Ó Sé was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and brought to Tralee garda station, where Sgt Hurley said there was an issue with the breathalyser apparatus at the station.
When Mr Ó Sé was told a doctor was on the way so a blood or urine sample be produced, he requested to make a call to a retired Garda Sergeant, but the call rang out, before he requested to call his solicitor John O’Dwyer, whose phone was off.
Former garda Shane O’Reilly told Tralee Circuit Court yesterday that he then offered for Mr Ó Sé to make another call to another solicitor or someone else if he wished, but Mr Ó Sé declined.
Mr O’Reilly initially did not include this in his custody record, and said he made an admission of error on this.
Darragh Ó Sé disputes this, and told the court he actually requested to make a third call but was denied and told, "Your calls are done", adding after some back and forth with prosecuting solicitor Aidan Judge, that Mr O’Reilly’s evidence was incorrect.
Mr Judge told the court that the accurate recollection was Mr O’Reilly’s, not Mr Ó Sé’s, bearing in mind Mr Ó Sé had consumed an enormous amount of alcohol.
The urine sample Mr Ó Sé gave returned a reading of 414mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine, and the legal limit is 67mg per 100ml of urine.
Defending Barrister Katie O’Connell told the court there was prejudice against Mr Ó Sé and if he’d been given legal advice, things might have turned out differently.
Judge Sinéad Behan said it was hard to see how the benefit of legal advice before giving a sample would have assisted him, as any solicitor would not have been able to advise him of anything other than that he has to give the sample.
Judge Behan concluded Mr Ó Sé was afforded reasonable access, and affirmed the driving ban handed down at Tralee District Court.
The three-year ban will come into effect at midnight on the 31st October, after it was postponed to allow the practicing auctioneer to make arrangements, and he will also have to pay a fine of €400 by that date.
