Denise Cribbin’s €60,000 M50 injury claim dismissed over credibility

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Denise Cribbin’s €60,000 personal injury claim was dismissed by the Circuit Civil Court on 26 May 2025, and costs were awarded against her. Judge Terence O’Sullivan said her evidence was unreliable and she could not be trusted to tell the truth.

Cribbin had sued motorist Sharon McConnell and her insurers, Allianz, over a 2018 collision on the M50. She claimed she injured her left knee and chipped two teeth when her face struck the steering wheel. Judge O’Sullivan said he did not find her account of the impact credible and that there was no medical evidence of damage to her teeth.

Defence barrister Shane English accused Cribbin of persistently lying under oath and said she had failed to tell the judge about a 2016 accident, after which she falsely accused a man of sexual assault. The civil judge said she had failed to inform the defendant of her criminal prosecution.

Cribbin pleaded guilty in July 2020 to making a false statement contrary to section 12(a) of the Criminal Law Act 1976. Judge Patrick Quinn gave her a two-year wholly suspended sentence at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court. The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed it as unduly lenient.

On 8 March 2022, the Court of Appeal quashed that sentence and imposed a one-year custodial term. Mr Justice George Birmingham sat with Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly. Cribbin served six months in prison.