The co-owner of a car that was written off by former EirGrid chief executive Mark Foley in a road-traffic collision says it is a “miracle” nobody was killed.
A case of drink-driving against Mr Foley (63) was dismissed this week at Dún Laoghaire District Court, although a blood-alcohol test showed him to have been more than four times over the limit.
Judge Anne Watkin said a proper request was not made at Irishtown Garda station to Mr Foley who should have been given the option of a urine sample as the drink-driving laws set out. Therefore, the blood sample provided was not admissible.
Mr Foley was driving on Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge at 5.45pm on January 13th last year when he swerved and crashed into two cars.
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Carol Molloy said she and her husband and their three children parked on Anglesea Road to attend Funderland when she got a call from gardaí to say her car had been involved in a road-traffic collision.
They returned to the scene immediately. “There his [Mr Foley’s] car was in the middle of the road. It had swerved 180 degrees into our car. His airbag was up. His screen was smashed. How he wasn’t hurt was a miracle as well.
“Anglesea Road was very busy at that time with teenagers weaving in and out going to Funderland. It was an absolute miracle he didn’t kill anyone.
“When I look at the photos of my car and where he crashed the car, that would have been my driver’s seat and my four-year-old in the booster seat in the back. It doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened if we were getting in or out of the car at the time.
“He was on his phone the whole time. He wouldn’t interact with us. He knew well not to talk to any of us. You could smell the alcohol off his breath. He was really lucky he hit a parked car and not a moving car.”
Mr Foley wrote off Ms Molloy’s family car, a four-year-old Peugeot 508 seven-seater which she and her husband had bought new for €58,000 in 2019. “It completely screwed us over because the car was a complete write-off. The insurance paid out the value of a second-hand car and the price of second-hand cars had skyrocketed.”
The force of the impact propelled the Peugeot 508 forward and on to the footpath, causing serious damage to a parked Mercedes.
When approached by Garda Kevin Massey on the night in question, Mr Foley denied he had been drinking but admitted to having been on his mobile phone when he crashed into the two cars.
Garda Massey smelled alcohol on Mr Foley’s breath and asked him to provide a breath sample. He failed the breath test, the court heard.
Mr Foley was arrested at 6.10pm on suspicion of drink-driving, cautioned and conveyed to Irishtown Garda station. His rights were read and explained to him. A doctor arrived at 7.35pm and took a blood sample.
That sample showed a blood alcohol concentration of 216mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The current drink-driving limit is 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Ms Molloy anticipated that he would get a fine and a driving ban. She was shocked when the case was dismissed although she acknowledged the judge involved had to follow due process.
“It is utterly disappointing to see him get off on a technicality given how over the limit tests proved,” she said.
“What signal or deterrent are we trying to send to other people particularly coming up to Christmas who might get behind a wheel? I would have thought we were not all shocked enough by the road deaths this year.”
Mr Foley stepped down as EirGrid chief executive in April this year after serving six years one day before the case first came to court.
No reason was given for his departure and EirGrid declined to comment at the time.
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