bail granted | 

Prison officer charged with drink driving after crash outside Dublin jail

Mr Neag is charged with driving or attempting to drive a vehicle while under the influence or over the alcohol limit at Cloverhill Road, Clondalkin.

Today at 13:55

A PRISON officer has been charged with dangerous and drink driving following an alleged crash outside a Dublin jail on St Stephen’s Day.

Mihai Neag (46) appeared in Blanchardstown District Court today charged in connection with a single vehicle collision near the Cloverhill and Wheatfield prison complex.

Remanding him on continuing bail, Judge David McHugh ordered the accused’s home address could not be published, for security reasons.

Mr Neag is charged with driving or attempting to drive a vehicle while under the influence or over the alcohol limit at Cloverhill Road, Clondalkin.

He is also charged with dangerous driving at Cloverhill Road and nearby Kennelsfort Road.

The offences, under Sections 4 and 53 of the Road Traffic Act, are alleged to have happened last December 26.

When he appeared in court, the accused was already on bail granted at a garda station at the time of his arrest.

Garda Sergeant Walter Sweeney handed in to court written evidence of his arrest, charge and caution on the dangerous driving counts.

Garda Eoin Kelly then gave evidence of further charging Mr Neag before today’s court sitting with drink driving. Judge McHugh extended bail to cover this charge.

Defence solicitor Aoife McNicholl asked the judge for reporting restrictions to prohibit publication of Mr Neag’s address.

She said due to his job, there were “security concerns if his address were to be reported.”

Gardai had no objection to this application.

The judge asked Ms McNicholl if the concerns were “very acute.” He then asked her to “write on a piece of paper what exactly are the security concerns.”

This was handed in to the judge and not read out. Judge McHugh said Mr Neag’s “name may be mentioned but his address may not, until further order.”

He ordered disclosure of prosecution evidence to the defence and adjourned the case to a date in March.

Mr Neag, wearing a light blue shirt and dark tie, was not required to address the court during the brief hearing and has not yet entered pleas to the charges.

At the time of the incident, gardai said they were “investigating a single-vehicle road-traffic collision that occurred shortly before 2.30pm on December 26 on the Cloverhill Road in Clondalkin, Dublin 22.

“No injuries were reported. The driver of the vehicle, a man in his 40s, was arrested at the scene for a number of road traffic offences and taken to a garda station in Dublin,” the spokesperson said.

The offences of drink driving and dangerous driving both carry fines or maximum sentences of six months on conviction. Drink driving penalties also include a scale of disqualifications based on the level of alcohol.