Taoiseach says courts are where Malcolm Byrne should face ‘repercussions’ over alleged drink-driving

TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has defended his response to a garda investigation into party colleague Malcolm Byrne, who is set to appear in court on drink-driving charges.

Byrne was stopped at a mandatory garda checkpoint in Dublin’s city centre last May and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.

He had been travelling from a hotel to Dublin Airport on 28 May.

He told the Fianna Fáil party of his arrest and later stepped down as chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on AI last June following the alleged incident.

It was recently reported that Byrne is suspected of being almost two-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit.

When speaking about the incident last week, Martin appeared to suggest that the TD will not be punished by the party.

Speaking at the Fianna Fáil party think-in on Monday, Martin said that court is “where the repercussions are going to happen”.

He added that drink-driving is “unacceptable”.

“There are rules there, so that’s unacceptable, and the courts should deal with that rigorously and without fear or favour,” he added.

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“In the past, there used to be issues around that.

“Sometimes people had a perception or a sense that public representatives may not face the full rigours of the law, but that has changed dramatically over a number of decades, and that’s right and proper.

“The courts should be allowed to deal with any issue that’s before them.

“And I’m not going to pre-empt the outcome of any court case in respect of any particular individual at this stage.

“We keep everything under review, but there is no precedent in any political party for issues pertaining to the whip having applied to motoring offences, be they drink-driving offences or be they speeding offences, and I think there’s been an attempt made to suggest that I’m somehow at odds with precedent or what’s happened, and that’s false.

“That’s just not true.

“The courts are where the repercussions are going to happen.

“We will keep everything under review ourselves politically as a party, but the courts is where accountability has to happen in respect of this.

“That’s very, very important.

“I don’t find, as I said earlier, I find drink-driving unacceptable completely.”