Drink driver who paid €26k cash for car gets legal aid

A judge ‘noted with interest’ that a man got free legal aid without question for being involved in a high-speed drunken road chase — in a car he bought for €30,500 from a main dealer, of which €26,300 was paid in cash along with a trade-in car.

During what was described as a horrifying chase through Limerick City, Martin McDonagh, who is unemployed, sped at up to 140km/h, running red lights, driving on the wrong side of road, and becoming airborne twice on bridges as he tried to evade arrest.

Limerick Circuit Court heard that McDonagh, 28, of the Unofficial Halting Site, Coonagh, Limerick, was disqualified from driving and on bail at the time. One of his previous convictions arose from ramming a Garda patrol car after another high- speed chase when he was driving a Mercedes.