A Letterkenny man has been put off the road after being convicted of drug-driving.
Ryan McGranaghan was caught by gardai after his car flagged on the Garda Active Mobility app as being uninsured.
Garda Stephen Campbell told the court that he was on patrol on September 3, 2022 when he observed a vehicle at Pluck, Manorcunningham. After performing a check on the vehicle, Garda Campbell realised that it was uninsured.
At Neil T Blaney Road, Letterkenny, gardai signalled for the car to stop.
Garda Campbell said that McGranaghan appeared “very nervous” when he spoke to him and he detected a smell of what he believed was cannabis coming from the vehicle.
McGranaghan, now a 28-year-old, was arrested and conveyed to Letterkenny Garda Station, where a nurse took a specimen of blood.
The sample returned showing negative for the presence of alcohol, but confirmed the presence of cannabis in McGranaghan’s system.
Solicitor for McGranaghan, Mr Kieran O’Gorman, questioned a difference of three minutes from the sample being requested and taken.
“It is impossible,” Mr O”Gorman said. However, this was refuted by the garda.
Judge Cunningham accepted that the facts were proven in the case.
The court heard that McGranaghan, with an address at Ballymacool Terrace, Letterkenny, has previous convictions for driving without insurance and the non display of an insurance disc.
Mr O’Gorman said his client’s job would be “in jeopardy” and said the amount of cannabis in his system was “quite small”.
He added that the repercussions in McGranaghan’s job and his life speaks for itself and something that he would “carry for the rest of his life”.
Judge Cunningham convicted McGranaghan and fined him €250. McGranaghan was disqualified from driving for one year.