INDEPENDENT TD CLARE Daly has said that she has been cleared of suspected drink driving with tests showing she was 33 per cent under the allowable limit.
It emerged at the end of last month that Daly had been pulled over by Gardaí on suspicion of being above the blood alcohol limit. The United Left Alliance member later admitted that that she had drunk a hot whiskey, which she was given for a cold, and took an illegal right turn in an area she was unfamiliar with.
At the time Daly said she was surprised that the details of her arrest were leaked to the media so quickly and in a statement today she said she feels that the incident was a “deliberate attempt to discredit a left-wing TD who has raised issues of malpractice within the Garda Síochana”.
The official results of a urine sample test has shown 45 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of urine, which is 33 per cent below the allowable limit of 67 milligrammes.
On the night of 28 January, Daly said she was breathalysed after being pulled over but the equipment did not register a reading.
I was arrested and handcuffed on the side of the road. I objected to being handcuffed and stated that I would willingly go to the Garda station. I was told by the arresting Garda that this was ‘procedure’. I was brought in a patrol car to the Kilmainham Garda Station – within 300 metres distance. At one point I was placed in a cell on my own. A doctor was called and I provided a urine sample. When I was released a female Garda told me to ‘come back when you are sober’.
While Daly said she suported gardaí in their implementation of road safety, she objected to the arrest, the handcuffing and the release of information.
“My legal advice is that none of this is ‘procedure’,” she said. “The Garda Ombudsman is investigating this matter as a criminal investigation under Section 98 of the Garda Soichana Act 2005. This is a very serious issue. Every citizen is entitled to their good name and to have their privacy respected.”
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