If you were convicted of drunken driving within the last two weeks you should immediately appeal this conviction to the Circuit Court as you have a good chance of getting off. This is the case if you were breathalysed using an Intoxalyser in view of the decision of Judge Noonan in the High Court on the 21st September 2015.
Judge Noonan held that the regulations governing the use of the Intoxalyser state that the printout from the machine must be supplied to the “drunken driver” in both the Irish & English language. If this is not done the Judge found that the evidence of the Intoxalyser Print out/reading cannot be used in court.
This arose in a decision the High Court in the case of Mihai Avadenei who was charged with drunken driving in April 2014.
The Government has rushed in emergency legislation to change the law but it cannot make this change retrospectively.
You have a statutory right to appeal for a period of 14 days after the date of your conviction, even if you pleaded guilty. If you are outside that 14 day period, you can still apply to the Court to extend the time to appeal. We at Fleming & Barrett have a number of cases on appeal at the moment waiting in the wings for the result of various cases associated with the Intoxalyser.
It may be that the DPP will appeal Judge Noonan’s decision to the Supreme Court but in all the circumstances, I think his decision is a strong one. We are still awaiting a written version of Judge Noonan’s decision .
We would be happy to help you in this matter regarding the completion of appeal papers and the opportunity exists to reverse the conviction and get back driving again.
Eamonn Fleming
