Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes receives two-year driving ban

Olivia Kelleher

Five-time All-Ireland winning hurler Kyle Hayes has been disqualified from driving for two years and will be off the road from midnight on June 12th next after he failed to overturn his conviction for dangerous driving.

Mr Hayes (26) of Ballyashea, Kildimo, Co Limerick, initially received the two-year driving ban and a fine of €250 at Mallow District Court in September of 2024. However, he appealed his conviction at a sitting of Cork Circuit Appeals on Wednesday.

The court heard on Wednesday that Hayes drove at a speed of 155km/h and overtook nine vehicles in what Cork South State Solicitor Jerry Healy described as an “utterly unacceptable” manoeuvre.

Judge Helen Boyle was told that Mr Hayes asked a garda who stopped him on a dual carriageway on July 14th, 2024, northbound at Lissavoura, Grenagh, close to Mallow, if he could speak to a “higher ranking officer” than her.

Mr Hayes said in direct evidence that nothing untoward happened when he pulled in to the left hand lane having overtaken a few cars.

He conceded that his driving was careless but denied that it was dangerous. Hayes accepted that he was speeding when he was stopped by Garda Deirdre Barrett.

However, he insisted that he had to speed up to make sure there was “ample distance” to make his manoeuvre safe.

Hayes, who has six Munster titles and works as a farmer, was driving his 191 registered white Audi A6 at the time of the offence.

Garda Deirdre Barrett, who has been involved in road policing for fifteen years, said Wednesday that she was monitoring traffic on July 14th, 2024, when she saw a white Audi overtake nine cars at a speed of 155km/h.

She said that the dangerous driving by Hayes, which occurred at around 8pm, wasn’t “momentary.”

“There was no consideration for their (other motorists) safety or his own safety or the safety of his passenger.

By his own admission, he said he ran out of road. If it is not safe to do so, don’t overtake, and he had no regard for anyone else. He put himself, his passenger and other road users in danger by what he did.”

Garda Barrett said that Hayes “purposefully overtook” vehicles until he “ran out of road.”

She said she believed that he may well have been driving even faster prior to this detection because by his own admission he “ran out of road.”

Garda Barrett said that the weather conditions were perfect on the day.

“You could (also) clearly see the road markings and if you were undertaking nine vehicles. It was perfect (conditions) if you were driving within the speed limit.”

Garda Barrett said that at one point after she stopped Hayes, he told her he wanted to speak to a “higher rank officer” than her.

Defence barrister, Ronan Barnes BL, said that his client accepted that his driving was careless. He stated that Mr Hayes was of the belief that he had overtaken three or four vehicles rather than nine. Garda Barrett refuted this suggestion.

Mr Barnes said the evidence given by Garda Barrett suggested a “hair-raising manoeuvre” when, by her own admission, motorists didn’t beep their horns or show reactions when they were overtaken by Hayes.

“It (the driving) wasn’t as dramatic as portrayed.”

Mr Barnes asked Garda Barrett if other motorists reacted with flashing lights. She said that did not occur because the drivers saw the garda car move in to stop Hayes.

“There was no need for them to beep horns. I had to overtake the vehicles with blue lights on.”

State Solicitor for South Cork, Jerry Healy, said that Garda Barrett had years of experience and considered the behaviour and driving of Hayes to be in the dangerous category.

“In her professional judgement, it was an appropriate case to bring for a dangerous driving prosecution.

"I find it extraordinary that someone would consider driving 155km/h in a 100km/h [zone] as prudent. 100km/h is not a target. It is the maximum."

Mr Healy noted that the evidence had been that Hayes had passsed a speed detection van prior to being stopped by Garda Barrett. However, he wasn’t recorded as being speeding at that point.

Mr Healy said the presence of a speed van was a “double-edged sword.”

“Somebody who encountered one speed van (without incident) would think he was lucky for the rest of the journey.”

Mr Healy spoke of the possible “chain reaction” which might have occurred if other motorists had failed to respond to the overtaking by Hayes.

“It is utterly unacceptable to suggest it was just speeding. It is nonsense and an insult. He (Hayes) was going at a speed that was dangerous in itself.

"He expected everyone else on that road to step aside and cut out of his way. His judgement has to be questioned.”

Mr Healy said that Garda Barrett didn’t notice flashing or lights or the beeping of horns because she was too busy following Hayes.

“She hadn’t the time to be doing that. She followed. That was the appropriate reaction not watching to see whether people were blowing horns."

Judge Boyle, in deciding not to overturn the conviction, said that the speed at which Hayes was travelling was “excessive".

“It is not a motorway where you where drive at 120km/h. I am satisfied that his driving was dangerous to the public.”

Hayes had previously offered to plead to a charge of careless driving . This was not accepted by the courts.

Meanwhile, the dangerous driving conviction has triggered the possible activation of an older two-year sentence.

A two-year suspended sentence was imposed on the hurler in March 2024 after he was convicted in December 2023 of two counts of engaging in violent disorder at the Icon nightclub, Limerick City, on October 28th, 2019. A concurrent 18-month suspended sentence was also imposed for engaging in violent disorder inside the nightclub.

Hayes was found not guilty of assault causing harm to self-employed carpenter Cillian McCarthy at the nightclub on the same night.

Hayes, who had contested all of the charges, was ordered to pay McCarthy €10,000 in compensation for loss of earnings and injuries he sustained on the night.

Hayes appeared before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on February 10th last for re-entry of the of the violent disorder suspended sentence. He will be before the court in Limerick again on March 19th next where a decision will be made in relation to the possible activation of his suspended sentence.

Meanwhile, in March 2024, the Kildimo-Pallaskenry clubman was controversially shortlisted for Hurler of the Year 2024.

Limerick hurling manger John Kiely gave a character reference for Hayes at Hayes’s initial sentencing hearing in 2023.

He asked Judge Dermot Sheehan not to jail his star defender. “Every young man deserves a chance,” Kiely then told the judge.

Cillian McCarthy told Hayes’s trial that he had to have surgery to repair a fractured bone in the socket of his right eye, and he said he had also suffered bruising, severe headaches, blurred vision and psychological trauma. Judge Sheehan suspended the terms of Hayes’s sentence on the condition he did not offend within a two-year period.

However, last September, Hayes was convicted of dangerous driving by Judge Colm Roberts at Mallow District Court.

Judge Roberts told Hayes: “Speed kills, and this was excessive and dangerous speed".

"There are too many deaths on the roads, and he [Hayes] might think he’s the chosen one and that things won’t go wrong for him, but things do go wrong.