{"id":63402,"date":"2025-10-06T12:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/63402\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T12:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:49:11","slug":"mechanic-jailed-and-disqualified-for-driving-without-insurance-on-busy-limerick-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/63402\/","title":{"rendered":"Mechanic jailed and disqualified for driving without insurance on busy Limerick road"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A QUALIFIED mechanic who was caught driving without insurance on the outskirts of Limerick city has been sentenced to three months&#8217; imprisonment and disqualified from driving for five years.<\/p>\n<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/section\/463\/crime-court\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Limerick District Court<\/a>, Sergeant Denis Waters said Martin O&#8217;Donovan was speeding when gardai encountered him at Clondrinagh, Limerick on July 12, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The 50-year-old, who has an address at Gort An Choirce, Gort, County Galway did not have a driving licence and was driving a 150-year-old Ford Transit van at 87km\/h in a 60km\/h zone.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Carol Anne Coolican was told Mr O&#8217;Donovan has 30 previous convictions under the Road Traffic Act, including six for driving without insurance, four for driving without a licence and one for driving while holding a mobile phone.<\/p>\n<p>Solicitor Darach McCarthy said his client, who is the father of a teenage child, is &#8220;very sorry&#8221; for his offending which happened around the same time that he lost his family home.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everything fell asunder around him,&#8221; he said, adding his client made a foolish decision for the right reasons. &#8220;His intentions were good,&#8221; he said, telling the court that Mr O&#8217;Donovan has not driven for over a year.<\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/news\/breaking-news\/1908632\/decision-made-on-plans-for-massive-student-accommodation-complex-on-outskirts-of-limerick.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Decision made on plans for massive student accommodation complex on outskirts of Limerick<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The solicitor added that his client&#8217;s personal situation has improved in recent times and that he is now living in stable accommodation in County Galway.<\/p>\n<p>Having noted the facts of the case and Mr McCarthy&#8217;s submissions, Judge Coolican said Mr O&#8217;Donovan&#8217;s previous convictions were an aggravating factor in the case and that she had no option but to impose a prison sentence.<\/p>\n<p>A \u20ac300 fine was imposed in addition to the prison sentence and the disqualification.<\/p>\n<p>Recognisance were set in the event of an appeal being lodged.<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A QUALIFIED mechanic who was caught driving without insurance on the outskirts of Limerick city has been sentenced&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45,93,61,60,7250],"class_list":{"0":"post-63402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-limerick-district-court"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63402","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=63402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}