A leading lawyer has accused the Irish Prison Service of falsely detaining his drugs accused client – by driving him to court through Northern Ireland.
Ciaran Mulholland says Patrick Irwin, charged over a €100,000 (£86,000) cocaine seizure, was brought from Dublin to Ballyshannon District Court in Co Donegal in a prison van that crossed the border into Northern Ireland – and argues that the officers had no legal basis to keep him in the vehicle.
And he says that the staff from the Irish Prison Service, or IPS, acted illegally by bringing Mr Irwin outside the Republic into the north – where they have no powers of detention.
“The fact that an IPS escort felt it was appropriate to drive through a neighbouring jurisdiction without authority is not merely reckless and irresponsible but illegal,” the Dundalk, Co Louth criminal defence solicitor told the Irish Mirror.
A spokesman for the Irish Prisons Service declined to comment when contacted. He said: “The Irish Prison Service does not comment on individual prisoner cases.”
But sources have confirmed that the Prison Service van did make the journey via Northern Ireland, as revealed by Mr Mulholland.
The sources said the van went into NI by mistake and pointed out that apps such as Google Maps do send drivers heading from Dublin to Donegal via Northern Ireland as one route.
The sources said it was not immediately clear to the crew that they had crossed the border – as it is in effect an invisible frontier. And once they realised they were in NI they were so far in that they believed it was quicker to keep going to reach Ballyshannon than retrace their route back into the Republic.
Mr Mulholland has now written to the head of the IPS to demand answers about the incident – in which he says Mr Irwin was driven in Northern Ireland for up to an hour on the journey from Wheatfield Prison in Dublin to Ballyshannon District Court in Donegal last Wednesday.
Mr Irwin 44, of Carrowgubaddagh, Ballisodare, Co Sligo, is charged with having one kilo and nine grammes of cocaine for the purpose of selling or supplying to another, at Keadue West, Co. Roscommon on August 16 – and was in court in Ballyshannon last Wednesday over a bid for bail.
And, speaking at the start of last Wednesday’s hearing – at which he failed to get an independent surety accepted – Mr Irwin told Judge Ciaran Liddy that he had been driven through Northern Ireland without authorisation.
Now Mr Mulholland, who is representing Mr Irwin, says the van taking the accused to Ballyshannon court from Dublin went via Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh, after crossing the border in Co Cavan.
And that, he says, means the van was outside the Republic for around an hour – with his client in the back.
Mr Mulholland says he wants an independent probe into the incident: “This incident is of considerable gravity and warrants an urgent independent investigation, however given the dysfunctionality of our criminal justice system, we remain one of the few EU members without a Prison Ombudsman hence an absence in reality of impartial oversight and no watchdog to scrutinise the situation.
“The fact that an IPS escort felt it was appropriate to drive through a neighbouring jurisdiction without authority is not merely reckless and irresponsible but illegal.
“It questions the legality of our client’s imprisonment in the neighbouring Northern jurisdiction but also raises possible road traffic offences whether the vehicle was even insured to travel outside the 26 counties of the Republic.”
In his letter to the IPS, Mr Mulholland also refers to an allegation made by Mr Irwin in the court hearing last week that he had been threatened when he raised the fact that the van was in NI.
The Donegal Daily website quoted Mr Irwin as saying in the hearing: “On the way here, I was brought into Northern Ireland, into Enniskillen, without authorisation. I was threatened that if I didn’t shut up, he would throw me out by the neck.”
Sources say an IPS investigation is now underway into the entire incident, but they strongly disputed Mr Irwin’s allegations.
Mr Mulholland said the prison service could now be liable for falsely imprisoning Mr Irwin. He said in a statement to the Irish Mirror: “Whilst on a superficial level it could be said that we are simply dealing with the Irish Prison Service’s incompetence, that is simply not good enough particularly when we have senior Gardaí objecting to bail days earlier and then have a blasé IPS escort travel across an international border outside the jurisdiction for one hour for their own geographical convenience.
“The deprivation of liberty by the State must at all times have a clear and lawful basis in which administrative convivence cannot be substituted for a lawful authority.
“The IPS is now potentially liable for the false imprisonment of Mr Irwin whilst held in Northern Ireland without any lawful authority and I have made representations to the IPS Director General and Justice Minister in this regard.”
Mr Irwin was due back in court again in Sligo on Thursday morning.
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