We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
AN AMENDMENT IN bail legislation will prohibit drink drivers involved in fatal accidents from driving while they await a court date.
Christina Donnelly, whose youngest son Brendan and his friend Lee Salkeld died in a car crash involving a drunk driver in October 2009, has spent the last seven years advocating for changes in legislation surrounding drink driving.
‘Brendan’s Law’ was raised in the Dáil a number of times before being approved by Cabinet this week.
Welcoming the decision, Christina said: “This will never bring our loved ones back but it will offer some semblance of justice to bereaved families in the future and could also save lives.
“During the years I have been campaigning to strengthen the law, I have been contacted by families from all over Ireland and Europe who believe this is the correct thing to do. My heart is broken when I think of Brendan but, today, some good has come from our many years fighting for change.”
Junior minister John Halligan has backed the amendment for some time, saying it will “provide for stricter bail conditions so that a court will be able to prohibit a person charged with a serious road traffic offence causing a fatality from driving until their trial”.
As Christina Donnelly has said since she started her campaign, this will reduce the risk of further road traffic offences being committed while an accused person is out on bail. She deserves great credit for her tireless campaign in bringing Brendan’s tragic story to the Dáil.
Transport Minister Shane Ross said his department has been examining the “circumstances whereby a person may lose their licence following arrest for a serious road traffic offence … with a view to the strengthening of the law in this area”.
“I hope that this proposal may provide some comfort to those families who, like Christina, have lost a loved one through the selfish act of a driver who has committed a serious road traffic offence including a drunk or drug driver who has been charged with dangerous driving causing death.
“It sends out a strong message to those who commit serious road traffic offences that you may now lose your licence to drive in advance of any conviction in court,” Ross stated.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
My lord is anything working in this place, the country needs a complete reshuffle from top to bottom… Department after department being run by people who quite honestly do not seem to have a clue what they are doing…
Year on year it gets worse, government depts seem to be systematically inept or ran by incompetent people with little or no over sight, but that’s normal, what isn’t is the general publics sudden amnesia come election time. You get what you voted for, every 4 years you get the chance. Cue the triggered FFG bootlickers….
@Epgenetics29 Declan Christy: it was a 10 day passport express thing pre covid. And will be again when the dust settles. You need to relax. Cue the shinners jackboot lickers.
@Epgenetics29 Declan Christy: a lot of the backlog is applications filled out incorrectly and therefore applications need to be re submitted
@Epgenetics29 Declan Christy: Why always the blame on public and civil servants? The people who do all the dirty work at the civil service are largely a dedicated and hard working work force (as hard as their private sector counterparts anyways). It’s the way things are managed and the way the government is run, and the amount of bureaucracy and red tape involved in changing absolutely anything, that has many services the way they are. Let me also remind you that civil servants have barely received a pay increase in the last ten years, yet inflation and the cost of living has been through the roof the last few years, a great way to retain talent.
@Tomo: the Health service has the biggest ever budget provided by the state. Yet the problems still persist, minister and governments come and go yet civil servants are still there so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out where the problems are.
@Paul Furey: the express bit is gone for starters!
@Patrick O Connell: No no no no no!!!!!!! This is not joe publics fault which is now the narrative.
The passport office is heavily unionised and was deemed non essential during the pandemic.
They decide when they have received your documentation, which leaves people in no man’s land.
Turn the whole process over to private sector.
3rd world country services
@John Johnes: ye because the passport service in Afghanistan is so much better ..
@Ciaran: I wonder is his also Munsterman?
@Ciaran: great comment
Nobody will get fired and all have their beautiful pensions.
Those kids should check their privilege :-)
You can checkout….but you can never leave.
Why didn’t they apply in time ,off on a fancy holiday.
@Betty O Sullivan: 4 months should be plenty of time for a first time passport and yet, here I am. Still waiting. Different answers from different agents all the time. Our photo was refused the first time because she was smiling. Imagine that lol. A 16 month old must have a neutral expression WHILE looking at the camera. It’s absolute NONSENSE.
@Betty O Sullivan: By the way, it isn’t a “FANCY” holiday for 95% of these people. I have scrimped and saved arse ways with my husband to be able to afford a holiday. These families have sacrificed and suffered enough over the last 2 years.
@Scarletrose: Fulling expecting an issue with my 3 week old babys photo. Next to Impossible to meet their out dated requirements especially where the Child is so young.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say