Father-of-12 allowed keep his licence after no insurance charge in Letterkenny court

A Judge has allowed a man to keep his licence after hearing he is a father of 12 children and lives in a rural part of Donegal.

Fedir Tyrpak, with an address at Wild Atlantic, Donegal, appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with having no insurance.

The accused man, aged 40, was stopped by gardai driving at Keenaghan, Kilmacrennan on June 3, 2025.

Sergeant Jim Collins told the court how Tyrpak, who is originally from Ukraine, was stopped by gardai after his vehicle showed up on the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) device.

Solicitor for the accused, Mr Donough Cleary, said his client has been living in Ireland for several months.

He is unemployed and lives in quite a rural area of Donegal, Mr Cleary explained.

Mr Cleary said: "He is anxious to get insurance and has a family of twelve. He doesn't have a car at the moment and lives in quite a rural area."

The court also heard that he does not have any previous convictions and speaks very little English.

A number of his children were in court to accompany him during the case.

Mr Cleary asked the Judge to use her discretion in the case because of his client's circumstances.

Judge Emile Daly said she would but warned Mr Cleary and his client that this was still a serious matter.

Judge Daly added: "Not having insurance is a very serious matter. People coming into his country need to realise that. I accept that he is a social welfare recipient."

Judge Daly also asked Mr Cleary if there was any opportunity for his client to find work in this country. He replied: "It will be very limited and probably confined to manual work."

Judge Daly fined Tyrpak €450 and allowed him five months to pay the fine.