A judge has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the Fine Gael MEP Ms Avril Doyle after she failed to appear in court to answer a dangerous driving charge.
Ms Doyle, who is seeking re-election in June, said last night that she was not represented in court because of an diary error by her solicitor, Mr Andrew Coonan.
The Wexford MEP said she meant no disrespect to the Dublin District Court at Brunswick Street and would seek an appearance before the court today to explain herself.
Mr Coonan's firm, Coonan-Cawley, of Naas, Co Kildare, said in a statement last night that it accepted full responsibility for the matter. The issuing of the arrest warrant comes not long before Ms Doyle's campaign begins in earnest for the European election on June 11th.
While Ms Doyle, a former Minister of State, is keen to clear the matter up quickly, the bench warrant remained in place overnight. A Garda spokesman said that the force was obliged the execute the warrant. However, he said that it might take several days before the force received the warrant.
Ms Doyle, of Kitestown, Co Wexford, was summoned to answer charges of careless driving, driving without reasonable consideration and dangerous driving. The offences are alleged to have occurred on the M50 at Santry on March 26th, 2002, when another car allegedly ran into Ms Doyle's car. Ms Doyle is contesting the charges.
Judge John Coughlan issued a bench warrant for the arrest when there was no appearance by, or on behalf of, Ms Doyle.
Ms Doyle had initially instructed her solicitor to appear on her behalf because she expected to be in Strasbourg on European Parliament business. In the event, she was in Ireland yesterday.
"The reason I wasn't represented in Court 53, Richmond Hospital, North Brunswick Street, Dublin, was because I was to be represented by my solicitor, Andrew Coonan, of Coonan-Cawley Solicitors," she said last night.
"Unfortunately, due to a diary error, he missed the case. Mr Andrew Coonan takes full responsibility for the error. I will comply with all my legal obligations and I mean no disrespect to the judiciary or the court."
In a statement, Coonan-Cawley said: "Due to an administrative error, that representative did not, in fact, attend. No fault attaches to our client whatsoever in this regard and this is a matter for which we take full responsibility."
Ms Doyle topped the poll in Leinster with 67,881 first-preference votes in the 1999 European election. However, she failed to regain her Dáil seat in the 2002 general election.
With Fine Gael seeking to regain ground lost in that general election, a former agriculture journalist, Ms Mairead McGuinness, is running alongside Ms Doyle in the East constituency.
