Absent Browne fined €300 for driving with mobile

Journalist and broadcaster Vincent Browne was fined €300 in his absence when he forgot to turn up to court to face prosecution for driving a car while holding a mobile phone.

Judge Alan Mitchell ordered that the fine must be paid within three months, otherwise the host of TV3’s flagship current affairs programme will be jailed for five days in default.

A summons had been issued for Browne to come to Dublin District Court yesterday to face a charge for holding a mobile phone while driving a car, on the M50 at Ballymount, in Dublin, on May 14 last year.