Former TD Colm Keaveney due to appear in court accused of driving under influence of cocaine

Exclusive: Mr Keaveney, who is currently a Fianna Fail member of Galway County Council, has been notified that he faces one alleged offe

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Michael O’TooleCrime Correspondent

• 06:00, 9 JAN 2024

This former TD and serving councillor is due to appear in court accused of driving under the influence of cocaine.

The Irish Mirror has confirmed that one time Labour and Fianna Fail TD for Galway East Colm Keaveney is due to appear in court on January 23.

Mr Keaveney, who is currently a Fianna Fail member of Galway County Council, has been notified that he faces one alleged offence, sources have confirmed.

Mr Keaveney, who turns 53 on Thursday, has been summonsed to face one count of driving with cocaine in his system. The offence is alleged to have happened on June 12 last year at Cummer in Tuam, Co Galway.

Mr Keaveney, with an address at Kilcreevanty, Tuam, Co Galway, is to appear at the town’s district court.

It is alleged he drove a vehicle with cocaine in his system and that the concentration of the drug –officially known as Benzoylecgonine – in his blood was greater than the legal threshold of 50 ng/ml.

That alleged offence is contrary to the Road Traffic Act of 2010. That offence at district court level carries a fine of up to €5,000 and a six month prison sentence, as well as a 12 month disqualification.

The Irish Mirror made several attempts to contact Mr Keaveney yesterday, but he did not respond to our request for comment.
Mr Keaveney, who is a former trade union official, was elected as a TD for East Galway on the Labour ticket in the 2011 general election and was also at one stage the party chairman.

But he lost the whip in 2012 when he voted against a government welfare cut in the Dail. He then sat as an independent before he joined Fianna Fail in December 2013.

He lost his Dail seat in the 2016 general election. But he stood for Fianna Fail in the 2019 local government elections. He won a seat on Galway County Council and represents the Tuam electoral area.