DPP appealing four-year sentence for drunk driver

The DPP is appealing what it believes is the unduly lenient sentence imposed on a drunk driver who caused a head-on crash killing three people and an unborn baby in Co Monaghan.

Kevin McArdle of Longfield, Carrickmacross was released from prison last month having served a four-year jail sentence.

McArdle was three-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit and on the wrong side of the road when he crashed into a car on the Carrickmacross by-pass, two days after Christmas in 2010.

Two of his friends were killed along with the passenger in the other car, 39-year-old Roisin Connolly and her unborn daughter.

McArdle was jailed for four years and disqualified from driving for 12 years at Carrickmacross Circuit Court in 2011.

The DPP is now appealing against the sentence, claiming that it is too lenient as the accused had previous driving convictions and showed limited insight into the devastating consequences of his actions.

McArdle's lawyers say he knows his actions were wrong, he has served his time and that the appeal should fail.