A Government minister has been fined €100 for driving her car without insurance.

Carlow-Kilkenny Labour deputy Ann Phelan, who is a Minister of State with responsibility for rural affairs, appeared before Kilkenny District Court earlier this week.

Ms Phelan said she admitted the offence. She was given a fine for the incident which took place in February, 2014.

She said she did not realise she had no insurance for her car because she was in the process of changing insurance companies and assumed she was covered.

Ms Phelan said she was exiting her house when she “tipped a tyre off a lorry”.

“I was changing insurance companies at the time and didn’t realise I was actually out of insurance,” Ms Phelan said. The other two cars belonging to her family were fully insured, she said.

“I called the guards myself when it happened,” she said, claiming the incident should be “a lesson” to others in the process of changing insurance companies

Ms Phelan also said she was “treated no different to any other citizen”.