‘I think we are all wasting our time here,’ Laois Judge says

A Judge expressed frustration after a woman who was previously released less than two days after getting a two month prison sentence appeared in court again. 

Sarah Cloherty(38) of 1 The Maisonettes, Strabally, appeared before a sitting of Portlaoise District Court accused of being intoxicated in public at JFL Avenue, Portlaoise on July 24, 2025. 

Judge Andrew Cody said a bench warrant had been issued for the woman who had been due before Tullamore District Court on Wednesday, July 23. He said the woman had been provided with Bed and Breakfast again by the State. 

“I think we are all wasting our time here. If somebody gets a sentence and the most they do is six or eight hours, we can forget it, we can all go home,” he said. 

A Garda told the court the woman had been arrested the previous day for being intoxicated in public at JFL Avenue. He said she was stumbling and there was a strong smell of alcohol and she was taken to Abbeyleix Garda Station.

Her reply after caution was “sorry sir, I was drunk”, the garda told the sitting of Portlaoise District Court. 

Solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said his client was “a lady with an egregious addiction to alcohol” who upon her release began drinking. 

Judge Cody issued a €200 fine and gave the woman six months to pay. He said there was “nothing else I can do.”