A judge has said a former Fianna Fáil TD has had “a significant fall from grace” after pleading guilty to driving under the influence of cocaine.
Colm Keaveney, with an address at Kilcrevanty, Tuam, Co Galway, pleaded guilty at Tuam District Court to the charge along with two counts of driving with no insurance.
The 54-year old was arrested after being stopped at a checkpoint at Cummer near Tuam on June 12, 2023.
Sergeant Christy Browne told the court that Mr Keaveney failed a roadside drug test and was arrested and brought to Tuam Garda station where a blood sample tested positive for cocaine.
The court was told that on July 25, 2024 at Vicar St, Tuam, Garda Michelle Hanlon stopped Mr Keaveney for failing to produce a certificate of insurance on demand.
He was given 10 days to supply his certificate to gardaí but was stopped again for the same offence four days later on July 29, 2024 at the N17 Plaza, Farranamartin, Tuam.
The court heard that he produced an invalid certificate and was subsequently arrested by appointment and charged with driving with no insurance.
Sgt Browne told the court that Mr Keaveney had two previous convictions.
In July this year he was fined €250 and banned from driving for four years in relation to an incident in Boyle in Co Roscommon last October when he failed to stop after a collision with another vehicle and subsequently failed to provide a blood or urine sample.
The case in relation to Mr Keaveney’s charge of driving under the influence of cocaine had been adjourned ten times but the former TD pleaded guilty when he appeared before Judge James Faughnan at Tuam District Court.
Defence solicitor Gearóid Geraghty told Judge Faughnan that Mr Keaveney’s parents had died within seven days of each other in recent years. His client had suffered significantly over a period of time.
At the time Mr Keaveney was caring for his parents he suffered from a medical condition and developed a cocaine addiction. He subsequently took up a residential place in an addiction treatment centre and remains in aftercare during his ongoing recovery.
Judge Faughnan, who said the accused had suffered ‘a significant fall from grace’, requested a probation report and adjourned the case to November 25.
Mr Keaveney was first elected to the Dáil as a Labour candidate in 2011. He then became an Independent before joining Fianna Fáil in 2013.
He lost his Dáil seat in 2016 but was elected to Galway County Council as a Fianna Fáil candidate in 2019 but did not seek re-election last year.