The Court of Appeal has dismissed Patrick White’s appeal against his convictions for drink driving, driving without insurance and driving without a licence, upholding the finding that the checkpoint where he was stopped had been validly authorised.
The appeal concerned a written Garda authorisation covering two mandatory intoxicant testing checkpoints. It was dated 13 October 2019, but also referred to a checkpoint on the N81 on 12 October. White argued that this earlier checkpoint appeared to have been authorised retrospectively, making the whole document invalid. He said the prosecution therefore lacked essential proof that the checkpoint where he was stopped was lawful.
The District Court had rejected White’s application to dismiss the charges and later convicted him. The High Court, answering questions in a case stated from the District Court, held that the authorisation was valid for the second checkpoint, at Bóthar Katharine Tynan, Tallaght, on 13 October. White appealed that decision to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal said a written authorisation may contain permission for multiple checkpoints and, in appropriate circumstances, the part relating to one checkpoint may be severed from text relating to another. It considered whether the two checkpoint provisions depended on one another, shared any erroneous text, or would become unclear if separated.
The court found that the first checkpoint provision appeared to authorise a checkpoint retrospectively. But the provision for the second checkpoint was clear when read with the document’s shared text: it specified the date, public place and operating hours, and the document was signed by an inspector. The court found no evidence that the authorisation was not in existence when Garda David O’Donoghue stopped White at 1.40am on 13 October. It said the District Court judge could rely on the garda’s uncontroverted evidence that he had operated the checkpoint under written authorisation.
The appeal court concluded that the flaw was not fundamental and did not invalidate the separate authorisation for the checkpoint where White was stopped. It dismissed the appeal and upheld the High Court’s reasoning.
In the District Court, White had been fined €400 and disqualified from driving for six months for drink driving; fined €450 and disqualified for four years for driving without insurance; and fined €250 for driving without a licence. The appeal judgment did not alter those convictions or penalties.