The High Court has refused Dolores Webster's attempt to overturn a €200 conviction arising from her presence in Dublin city centre during Covid-19 restrictions in January 2021.
Webster was encountered by Gardaí at the location of an anti-lockdown protest and convoy on January 10, 2021. She was later prosecuted for failing to comply with a Garda direction and for leaving her residence without reasonable excuse.
She did not attend the District Court and was convicted of both offences in October 2023, receiving two €300 fines. After obtaining extra time to appeal, she received a full rehearing in the Circuit Court. That court dismissed the charge of failing to comply with a direction but upheld the conviction for leaving her residence without reasonable excuse, reducing the fine to €200.
Webster, representing herself, then sought judicial review. She maintained that she had not known about the District Court proceedings, that delay had prevented her obtaining video evidence and that she had been outside to buy Calpol for her adult son. She also relied on her claimed status as a citizen journalist.
Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan rejected the challenge. The court found ample unchallenged evidence that Webster had been notified of the District Court proceedings, including evidence of service of the summons and later notification of the hearing date.
In any event, the judge held that the full Circuit Court rehearing cured any potential unfairness arising from the earlier proceedings in Webster's absence.
The High Court also clarified that the Circuit Court had not decided that going to a chemist could never amount to a reasonable excuse. Instead, it had not accepted Webster's factual claim that this was why she was in the city centre, preferring Garda evidence that she had provided no such explanation when stopped.
Phelan J found sufficient evidence supported the conviction and no jurisdictional error had been established. Webster's separate attempts to strike out the DPP's opposition papers and secure a protective costs order were also refused.