'Please God, this is the end of it', says Dolan after hearing

With a twinkle in his eye and his trademark grin flashed across his face, Joe Dolan emerged from court yesterday thanking "fans and friends" for their support.

"It has been going on for a year and 10 months and, please God, this is the end of it." The veteran entertainer may consider himself lucky that the drink-driving charge which had been hanging over him for so long was unexpectedly struck out.

"Happy days, Joe?" a spectator asked him from the wings. "Happy days," he replied.

For the gardaí present, the expressions were somewhat different. Red-faced sums it up nicely.

Gardaí said afterwards the circumstances surrounding the non-appearance of their key witness - the officer who took Dolan's reading on the Intoxilyzer - would be examined.

It wasn't clear whether the garda, who was not named in court, was told he wouldn't be needed to give evidence as the DPP felt the hearing would be adjourned. Alternatively, gardaí said it was possible the officer failed to inform a superior of his plans, which would raise the possibility of disciplinary action.

Either way, it is an embarrassment for the force at a time when it has been pursuing a "get-tough" policy on driving offences.

Wearing a dark suit and open-necked shirt, Dolan arrived at the court shortly before 2 p.m. and was gone within half an hour. Throughout, he was flanked by his manager, Mr Seamus Casey, who expressed the same hope afterwards that gardaí would not re-enter the charge - as was their right in the absence of an order precluding it.

While Dolan acknowledged the possibility, he chose to concentrate on the positive as he spoke above the din of his newfound groupies outside.

"I want to thank everybody out there for all their support," he said. With that, he strutted away, as only Joe Dolan can.