Cork man who performed 'donuts' in front of 150 people gets two-year driving ban

At Mallow District Court, the judge said he wasn’t aware of the part of the driving test exam that stated 'it’s grand to do donuts'

A garda patrol car came upon a meeting of car enthusiasts after midnight at a rural location at Tooreen South, Bottle Hill, Mallow. File picture: Denis Minihane

A Cork man who performed “donuts” in front of a crowd of more than 150 people has been disqualified from driving by the district court.

Court presenter Inspector Anthony Harrington told Mallow District Court that a garda patrol came upon a meeting of car enthusiasts after midnight at a rural location at Tooreen South, Bottle Hill, Mallow on February 21, 2025.

Giving evidence, Garda James Cullinane said that at 12.42am he approached a large crowd of spectators he estimated to be between 150 and 200 people watching a car doing donuts on the public road. He told the court that the car was spinning its wheels and there was a lot of smoke from the manoeuvres it was carrying out. 

Gda Cullinane said it was a wet night and the conditions at the time were foggy. He approached the car to prevent it from driving off and he spoke to the driver, identified as Dale Walsh, aged 21, of Mannix’s Cottage, Killeens, Co Cork. 

Walsh was arrested for dangerous driving and taken to Mallow Garda Station where he was formally charged.

Defence solicitor Cathal Lombard said the incident occurred at a remote rural location near forestry and asked Judge Colm Roberts to consider reducing the charge from one of dangerous driving to the lesser charge of careless driving. 

Mr Lombard said his client was fully co-operative, had no previous convictions and was a very young man. He said his client has since undertaken a pro-social driving course and had never been in trouble before.

Judge Roberts said: “If the court takes the view that doing donuts with 100 or 150 people watching after midnight is not dangerous driving, we may as well all go home.”

The judge said that Walsh had obtained his licence and he wasn’t aware of the part of the driving test exam that stated “it’s grand to do donuts”. The judge said it was not a marginal case where he could reduce the charge and clearly came under the definition of dangerous driving. 

He convicted Walsh of dangerous driving and disqualified him from driving for the mandatory two-year period and agreed to defer commencement of the driving ban to November 1. He also fined Walsh €250 and allowed him one month to pay.

The judge added: “It was a serious error of judgement. It seems I’m being told to care about his driving licence — when he didn’t.”

Recognisance for appeal was fixed at €500 with €250 cash.

This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme