No garda driver for State Pathologist

MURDER convictions may be jeopardised by Government penny-pinching after the State Pathologist lost her garda driver to cutbacks.

Dr Marie Cassidy said she would now arrive at distant crime scenes “exhausted” after driving for hours and she feared making mistakes because of tiredness.

“The guards have been marvellous and have provided transport if I have to go down the country, but unfortunately cutbacks mean that I’m back on the buses again. At the end of this week, I will be back driving myself and it just takes so long with the traffic. When people call you about nine o’clock at night, by the time I get down there it’s one or two in the morning and you think what if I make a mistake because I am not on the ball? You are always worried particularly if, based on your evidence, someone has been charged with a crime. What if you don’t get it right?”