{"id":401805,"date":"2026-04-16T15:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/401805\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:39:08","slug":"whitegate-protestor-appears-in-cork-court-on-driving-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/401805\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitegate protestor appears in Cork court on driving charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">A man who was chased by garda\u00ed after he allegedly drove his tractor and slurry tank through a garda checkpoint in last week\u2019s fuel protest near Whitegate has been charged with five counts of dangerous driving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Darra O\u2019Shea, aged 27, was charged that he drove in a manner that was dangerous to the public, or was likely to be dangerous to the public, at five locations in East Cork on April 11, contrary to Section 53(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as substituted by Sec 4 of the Road Traffic (No. 2) Act 2011.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The locations in which he has been charged with dangerous driving are: Knockanemorney, Rostellan; Rostellan, Midleton; Lower Aghada, Midleton; Whitewell Cross, Whitegate; and Ballynafarsid, Rostellan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Mr O\u2019Shea, with an address at Corbally South, Ballincurrig, Leamlara, Cork, appeared in Midleton District Court while more than 100 people, believed to be there in support of him, waited outside.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5042291_8_articleinlinemobile_DSC_5672.jpeg\" alt=\" Supporters at Midleton Courthouse applauded as Darra O\u2019Shea entered and left the courthouse. Picture: Larry Cummins\" title=\" Supporters at Midleton Courthouse applauded as Darra O\u2019Shea entered and left the courthouse. Picture: Larry Cummins\" class=\"card-img\"\/> Supporters at Midleton Courthouse applauded as Darra O\u2019Shea entered and left the courthouse. Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Sergeant Linda O\u2019Leary requested certain bail conditions for Mr O\u2019Shea to include social media restrictions. This was agreed to in court by Mr O\u2019Shea\u2019s barrister, Elaine Audley, BL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Judge Colm Roberts granted Mr O\u2019Shea bail on his own bond of \u20ac500. His bail conditions include that he refrain from posting messages via social media in relation to his charges before the court and that he keep the peace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Mr O\u2019Shea is a stranger to the court and has no issue keeping the peace, Ms Audley said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">His case was adjourned until June 25, 2026. Ms Audley said her client was anxious that directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions be available at that time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Sgt O\u2019Leary said garda\u00ed would do their best to progress the file.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">More than 100 people gathered at Midleton Courthouse, many saying that they were there to support Mr O\u2019Shea. Many also said they had been involved in last week&#8217;s fuel protest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A banner unfurled by supporters outside court said: \u201cFighting for survival \u2013 we stand with Dara.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who was chased by garda\u00ed after he allegedly drove his tractor and slurry tank through a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79,54,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-401805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork-news","tag-courts","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}