TD drove at speeds ‘close to 200km/h’ on M8 in Cork

A TD has been disqualified for two years and fined €500 after being found guilty of dangerous driving on the M8 near Mitchelstown.

Michael Cahill, of Rossbeigh, Glenbeigh, Co Kerry, overtook an unmarked garda car and was later observed driving “at speeds in excess of 190km/h and very close to 200km/h” while travelling southbound on the M8 near Mitchelstown.

At Fermoy District Court, Judge Colm Roberts heard Garda Peter O’Loughlin recall how he saw Mr Cahill’s brown Audi Q5 overtake him and then drive “extremely” close and “aggressively” behind a van in the overtaking lane on March 13 last year.

The Fianna Fáil deputy was represented by solicitor Ciaran O’Keeffe.

Garda O’Loughlin said Mr Cahill’s SUV “overtook me at high speed and came up behind a van aggressively”.

He said Mr Cahill was so close that the driver of the van pulled into the inside lane to let Mr Cahill pass.

Informed that Mr Cahill is a public representative, Judge Roberts asked “what did he think he was representing” on the day he was caught driving dangerously.

Addressing the issue of speed, Judge Roberts said: 

“Speed kills and he will have heard that his own constituents are dying as a result of speed.

“He should be aware that the number of deaths on the road is going up. The lack of lane discipline is frightening.” He said he does not drive dangerously himself because he is a judge and “we have to show good example, like parliamentarians”.

When Mr O’Keeffe referenced his client as driving in “the fast lane”, the judge interrupted him, and said: “You see one of the failures here is it’s not the fast lane. It’s the overtaking lane.

“Everybody thinks it’s the racing lane and that’s what causes deaths.” After convicting him and disqualifying him for two years, the judge said the evidence against Mr Cahill was “compelling”.