Cowen: "It was a terribly, terribly stupid mistake"

Minister for Agriculture and the Marine Barry Cowen described an incident in 2016 in which he was found to have breached the drink driving limit as ‘terribly, terribly stupid mistake’

The Laois/Offaly Fianna Fail TD was speaking on ‘The Week in Politics’ on RTE today.

He said it was “a terribly, terribly stupid mistake” and something that he was “very remorseful for”.

“I’m in public life and I have to accept responsibility for my actions. It was a serious lack of and lapse of judgement.”

He said: “It’s something that I have to be totally honest about and say I am humiliated by it, embarrassed by it and have to accept the punishment that has been given and have to accept the ridicule that is there now.”

He said he was fortunate that no was injured or killed as a result of his actions and said he hoped that others considering doing the same, might now think of him.

His interview can be seen here

He said he had not tried to keep it a secret but accepted that maybe, at the time, he should have told the Taoiseach or his party leader and denied that the incident impacted on his fitness to be a minister.

The interview arose following an Irish Independent report that the TD was banned for three months for breaching the drink driving limit in 2016.