The sentencing of former TD Colm Keaveney for driving under the influence of cocaine has been adjourned for the second time.
Keaveney (54), Kilcrevanty, Tuam, Co Galway, pleaded guilty to the charge at Tuam District Court on September 9th as well as to two counts of driving with no insurance.
He was due to be sentenced at the weekly sitting of Tuam District Court but the case was adjourned as the resident judge, Judge James Faughnan, who had dealt with the matter in previous sittings, was absent.
The sentencing had earlier been adjourned, in November, for the same reason.
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On Tuesday, Judge Derek Cooney put the sentencing hearing back to January 27th next.
The case had been adjourned 10 times before Keaveney entered guilty pleas.
First elected to the Dáil as a Labour candidate in 2011, Keaveney then became an Independent before joining Fianna Fáil in 2013.
He lost his Dáil seat in 2016 but was elected to Galway County Council as a Fianna Fáil candidate in 2019. He did not seek re-election last year.
Keaveney was arrested after being stopped at a checkpoint at Cummer near Tuam on June 12th, 2023.
The court had previously heard that Keaveney failed a roadside drug test in September 2023.
On another occasion in July 2024 Keaveney was stopped for failing to display a valid insurance disc.
The court heard he subsequently produced an invalid certificate and was later arrested by appointment and charged with driving with no insurance.
Keaveney has two previous convictions, the court has heard. He was fined €250 and banned from driving for four years in relation to an incident in Boyle, Co Roscommon, last October. On that occasion, he failed to stop after a collision with another vehicle and subsequently failed to provide a blood or urine sample.
