Can a Judge Send You to Jail on Your First Court Date in Ireland?

Can You Be Sent to Jail on Your First Court Date in Ireland?

Day 7 of 10 – Facing Court in Ireland: What You Need to Know

This is part of a 10-day series answering the most common fears people have about facing court in Ireland—particularly for drink driving and road traffic cases. If you’ve been arrested, or someone close to you has, you’re in the right place.

You’re lying awake the night before court thinking one thing: "What if they send me to jail tomorrow?"

Let me put your mind at ease: no judge in Ireland will send you to jail on the first day of court for drink driving.

It doesn’t happen.

"Even his colleagues on the bench didn't like him.

To them he was an embarrassment,

someone who lowered the standing of their profession

in the eyes of the public"

Your first court appearance is procedural. There’s no trial, no evidence, no sentencing. The judge checks if disclosure is ready to be served on the defence (almost certainly it isn’t) and adjourns the case.

That’s it.

The vast majority wouldn't even jail you if they decided to convict you after your trial. That's assuming you have no previous convictions. Most of my clients do not.

But I once knew a District Court judge—happily long retired—who jailed every person convicted of drink driving before him.

First offence? Didn’t matter. No previous convictions?

Still jail. It was lunacy, and everyone in his district knew it.

Even his colleagues on the bench didn't like him.

To them he was an embarrassment, someone who lowered the standing of their profession in the eyes of the public.

Incidentally, quite a few people who appeared before him were represented by a local solicitor. He made a pretty penny from defending people desperate to avoid jail.

He is now an appeal judge who is notorious for convicting people of drink driving.

He is so bad that among us lawyers he is regarded as a “bad draw”, an appeal judge you want to avoid at all costs.

Back to that ‘learned’ District Court judge.

The result? Everyone—everyone—pleaded not guilty. Even hopeless cases. Appeals went up 900%. The Circuit Court judges eventually overturned almost all of them.

And the District Court judge, frustrated that his decisions were being “grouped” and quashed en masse, wrote a long letter to complain. The reply he got from the sensible Circuit Court judge was one word:

“Noted.”

"The vast majority wouldn't even jail you

if they decided to convict you after your trial.

That's assuming you have no previous convictions.

Most of my clients do not"

That story is an outlier. 99% of judges do not imprison people convicted of drink driving for the first time. That’s because they’re sensible and not maniacs like the individual above.

But it explains the fear. And fear, left unchecked, makes people plead guilty too soon—just to end the anxiety.

He is now an appeal judge who is notorious

for convicting people of drink driving.

He is so bad that among us lawyers he is regarded

as a “bad draw”, an appeal judge

you want to avoid at all costs

And if you plead guilty, you will be disqualified. The law doesn’t allow for anything else.

So, remember you have choices.

And it’s the choice between going off the road or driving home. And everybody wants to drive home.

_______________________

Tomorrow’s post covers legal aid: who gets it, how it’s decided, and whether it actually gives you a real chance of winning. The answer might not be what you expect.