The Fine Gael MEP Ms Avril Doyle, who failed to appear in court this week on dangerous driving charges, said the accident in which she was involved was "very minor".
Judge John Coughlan issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Ms Doyle after she failed to appear at the Dublin District Court on Thursday on charges of careless driving, driving without reasonable consideration and dangerous driving.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme yesterday, Ms Doyle refuted the charges and downplayed the accident as a "minor traffic incident". She said she had not been in court because she thought her solicitor was appearing on her behalf. She also expected there to be another day in court before the matter would be resolved because of the length of time between the summons being issued and the accident, she said, and because the incident was minor.
The accident happened in March 2002. Ms Doyle received the summons 10 days before her appearance in court was due.
"[It was] a very minor traffic incident, which was, let's be very clear what happened, because I refute the charges most strongly. It was a minor incident in which there wasn't a mark on my car, my rear bumper, which the other lady hit."
Ms Doyle said she had been turning left off the M1 motorway when the woman in the car behind "clipped" her back bumper. Both women got out and the other woman smoked a cigarette while they "chatted" .
"There was a minor traffic incident, we both . . . she stood out, we both talked, she lit her cigarette and we chatted afterwards, it was that minor an incident."
