Doyle apologises after warrant issued

Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle apologised to Dublin District Court today for a mix-up which led to a bench warrant being issued for her arrest.

Ms Doyle claimed she had instructed her lawyer to appear on her behalf at a hearing into a number of driving charges against her but a diary error meant he did not attend.

She said that when she received the court summons 10 days ago, she had expected to be in Strasbourg on EU business and had not changed her plans, despite arriving home early, because she believed her solicitor would be present for yesterday’s hearing.

The Leinster MEP insisted the matter would be resolved by her legal team today and rejected the notion that she was a fugitive.

“I was perfectly in order in my solicitor being in court to represent me,” she said.

Ms Doyle described the non-appearance of anyone to represent her as a “most improbable incident”.

“I fully accept responsibility for the non-appearance of my solicitor. I must do that. He was acting on my behalf,” she said.

“I apologise profusely to the court for the discourtesy and for the appalling waste of court time.”

The firm of solicitors involved, Coonan Cawley, accepted full responsibility for the error in a statement.

Ms Doyle of Kitestown, Co Wexford, is facing charges of careless driving, driving without reasonable consideration and dangerous driving.

She insisted she was contesting all three charges which arose from an incident on the M50 motorway in Santry, Dublin, in March 2002.