A woman involved in a collision with a car driven by a daughter of the President, Mrs McAleese, was cleared yesterday of driving while under the influence of a drug.
Ms Sandra Maguire (32), Aylward Green, Church Street, Finglas, Dublin, denied driving under the influence of the heroin substitute, methadone. She was not in court but was represented by solicitor Mr Declan Fahey who said she had pleaded not guilty at a previous appearance and the case went ahead in her absence.
Dublin District Court heard she crashed into the rear of a car driven by Ms Sarah McAleese as she waited at a traffic-light controlled junction in Finglas on the evening of July 3rd last year. Following a legal submission by Mr Fahey, for Ms Maguire, Judge David Anderson dismissed the case.
He said the Garda witness had not "formed an opinion" that Ms Maguire had consumed an intoxicant but merely drawn an inference from her admission about methadone. This was a critical factor in placing someone under arrest on suspicion of drink or drug driving.
Ms McAleese had told the court she was taking driving lessons in a Nissan Micra, accompanied by an Irish School of Motoring instructor, when they came to a stop at red traffic lights at the junction of Seamus Ennis Road and Jamestown Road.
She was about to move off as the lights had just changed when they were hit from behind by a 1994 Toyota Starlet driven by Ms Maguire.
Her instructor told her to remain in the car although she could see in her rear view mirror a man getting out of the passenger side of Ms Maguire's car holding his hand to his face.
The collision caused Ms McAleese's vehicle to hit another car in front of her, also waiting at the traffic lights.
Driving instructor Mr Christopher Byrne said as they sat at the lights there was no vehicle behind them when suddenly there was a "heavy bang" on the rear of their vehicle. "The woman [Ms Maguire] was very agitated and seemed to be saying my pupil [Ms McAleese] slammed on the brakes and she had no option but to run into the back. That did not happen."
Garda David McCoy, who arrived at the scene in a few minutes, said he asked Ms Maguire if she had consumed alcohol. "She informed me she had not but said she had just consumed methadone prior to driving earlier that day."
She was arrested and taken to Finglas Garda Station where she provided a urine sample.
Following a legal submission by Mr Fahey, for Ms Maguire, Judge Anderson dismissed the case.