Cork man pleads guilty after being caught on road one year into five-year driving ban

A Cork man who was spotted driving less than a year after he received a five-year driving ban has pleaded guilty to the offence in the district court.

Court presenter Sergeant Tom Mulcahy told Clonakilty District Court that a garda patrol spotted the car of 49-year-old Timmy Coakley of Derryleigh, Inchigeelagh, Co Cork, at Galvin’s Service Station in Dunmanway at 11am on May 18, 2025.

The court heard that the car did not have valid tax or insurance, and when Coakley returned to the vehicle, gardaí followed it as he drove it out onto the public road. Coakley was stopped a short time later at Spa Rd.

The court heard that Coakley had received a five-year driving ban in the circuit court on July 23, 2024, for driving without insurance.

The court was told that Coakley had 30 previous convictions for a variety of offences including seven for driving without insurance.

Conrad Murphy, defending, said Coakley was “a man of few words” who lived in a remote location near Inchigeelagh with his 80-year-old mother.

He said Coakley had “significant alcohol issues in the past” that “seemed to have abated somewhat” in recent years.

Mr Murphy asked Judge Joanne Carroll to consider seeking a probation report.

Judge Carroll said Coakley was a “very mature man who understands he has an alcohol problem,” and added: “It’s very simple, he was driving while he was disqualified.”

She agreed to seek a probation report which she said “might be of some assistance”, and remanded Coakley on continuing bail to February 17, 2026.

• Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme