‘Oh my God, what have I done? I abhor drink driving’
Speaking to the Donegal Democrat, Dr McDaid apologised for driving while intoxicated, saying there was no excuse for his actions.
“To say it is regrettable... is an understatement. What can I say, I don’t know how I did this, there is no excuse and I am not offering one. I simply wish to apologise,” he said.
Recounting Tuesday’s events, the former Minister for Tourism and Sport said he left Donegal at 6.30am to attend the Dáil but accepted an invitation to fly by helicopter to Punchestown after lunch.
“My friend had a box there and I was offered a glass of white wine. I hadn’t had a drink in a couple of months and so agreed,” he said.
“In those corporate boxes they just keep topping up your glass. I was there from about 3pm until 8pm and had nothing to eat but I couldn’t say exactly how many glasses of wine I had.”
Dr McDaid flew back to Dublin’s City West Hotel, where he decided to drive to his own hotel, getting lost on the way and driving down the wrong side of the N7.
He said it was not until he saw the lights of the garda car flashing that the gravity of what he had done was brought home.
“I just thought, oh my God, what have I done? I abhor drink driving, I have no time for it, and yet here I was being stopped by the gardaí for it.”
Haulier Patrick Walsh, who followed Dr McDaid, blocking the road to stop him, yesterday described how events unfolded.
“He was going from one side of the road from the other, stopping, going, stopping, going, headlights on, headlights off. My stomach was basically turning with fright to see this man going down the road,” he said.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell said the incident reflected badly on politics.
“All of us from time to time have lapses of some kind or other. This was a very serious lapse.”
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman said the matter was one for the authorities and would not give any further comment.
