Barry Cowen at the wheel in 2016
This morning.
Following a televised apology at the weekend when it it was revealed that Agriculture Minister Barry Cowen was banned from driving after being caught over the limit in September 2016….
Via Independent.ie:.
It has emerged that Mr Cowen, then a Fianna Fáil TD, also appeared before Dublin District Court in June 2016 on a speeding charge. He was fined €200 for breaking the special 60kmh limit at Palmerstown in Dublin in July 2015.
The minister will make a statement in the Dáil on the drink-drive matter this evening as the Government seeks to end to the controversy.
He’s in so much trouble.
Barry Cowen fined for speeding as learner before drink driving ban (Independent.ie)
Yesterday: Mea Gulpa
Saturday: What The L Were You Thinking?
being on a provisional license at 48 is just downright laziness.
Surely, (surly would work also), there must have been insurance implications here…for years?
That’s what I find most incomprehensible about the whole thing – surely he was paying out an extra €500-1k a year in increased insurance costs for 30 years? Does not bode well for the financial management of the agriculture portfolio…
yea, astronomical costs. and he’d be aware of that, meaning he clearly would prefer to waste taxpayer money than just do the bloody test. there’s dummies up and down the country who’ve managed to get it together to pass the test. wasteful FF, just a taste of whats to come, for all those who forgot what they have always been like.
“A first and second learner permit usually lasts for two years each time while a third and subsequent permit lasts for one year. If you are taking out a third or subsequent permit you must show evidence of having taken a driving test in the previous two years or hold an appointment for a forthcoming driving test.”
So, did he take a test every year after the first two provisional licences?
I think you could apply for a test, then with evidence of the forthcoming test, renew the licence, then cancel the test after the licence came through
Are we going to discover (during this drip, drip, drip of information) that he had lost his license pre-2016 and had to re-sit the test?
That would make him a roads hooligan (and ex cabinet minister)
we’re back baby.
People vote again for the party who brought down the country due their incompetance. Same people complain about the party being incompetitant. Our DNA is certainly just 1% different to chimps
People like Barry Cowen are the real Fianna Faíl and there are enough people around to put them back in to government.
Party of wide boys and shiny suits. Barry has no qualifications as far as I can tell, not even the ability to pass a driving test, yet he was appointed as a senior minister?
The dodgy boggers of Fianna Fail are back in power for 3 or 4 days and we have our first controversy, from a Cowen! They just think they are special and that the rules don’t apply to them. Nepotism superstars!
Cowen still managed to claim mileage expenses of €7,166.25 during his ban. He also claimed an additional €329.48 which looks like a monthly rail ticket from Clara to Dublin.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/cowen-claimed-over-7k-in-travel-allowance-following-drink-driving-suspension-1009484.html
It’s a long held Fianna Fail tradition. “I want my perks and I want them now!”
Didn’t take long for the Fianna Fail sleaze to start.