A judge has called on legislators to “look carefully at comments the courts make” as he described the range of sentencing available as “totally skewed”. When Judge Seamus Hughes at Mullingar District Court heard Margaret McDonagh of North Circular Road, Dublin, had been jailed at another court for 10 months for the theft of groceries, he referred to a case he had heard the day before in Athlone.
Thomas Dodd (57) of Foster Street, Galway, appeared before him pleading guilty to his 29th incident of drink driving, for which the maximum sentence was six months. The judge expressed his frustration and noted there were many people like Ms McDonagh before the courts “for stealing groceries, possibly out of absolute necessity”.
