Bail application refused

A judge refused to grant bail to a 20-year-old man who was brought into last week's sitting of Mullingar District Court on the foot of three bench warrants.Judge David Anderson refused to allow Ciaran Heffernan whose address had previously been given as no fixed abode to be released on bail after Garda Michael Daniels told the court that he had been "coming to a lot of Garda attention". The court also heard that Mr Heffernan was no longer welcome at the family home at 102, Dalton Park.Mr Heffernan had been apprehended by police on the previous evening, June 15, at the Green, Tyrrellspass around 10.30pm.Garda Daniels told the court that Mr Heffernan had a total of eight previous bench warrants issued against him for failure to appear in court. Mr Heffernan had been due to appear in Athlone Court on May 19, at Tullamore Court on June 2 and Mullingar on June 11. When he was arrested Mr Heffernan told Gardaí that he had not known that he was due to be in court and that he had not been able to get a lift to the court date set for Tullamore.Defence solicitor Ms Patricia Cronin said that her client been issued with three bench warrants arising from the same incident. "These warrants issue from the Athlone Court date and are not separate incidents," she said. "My client can now give an address of 11 Grange Lawns to the court and that has been confirmed by Gardaí. It is his friend's home and he is welcome there.""Mr Heffernan has more than 20 previous addresses," replied Garda Daniels.Ms Cronin also told the court that her client had been unable to attend court in Tullamore on June 2 because he had been unable to get a lift and public transport was non-existent."There is no bus service between Mullingar and Tullamore and it's a 35 minute drive," she told Judge Anderson.The court was also told that Mr Heffernan's partner had just had a baby and that he wanted to be at home with his family. After taking the stand Mr Heffernan said that he was anxious to resolve the situation and that he would set aside money from his social welfare if he had to appear in court in Tullamore again. Mr Heffernan said that he missed one of the dates because he was in hospital at the birth of his son.Inspector Jarlath Folan interjected and said that Mr Heffernan's record of not appearing in court was "appalling" and also raised objection to bail.In making his decision Judge Anderson said that an overriding factor was that Mr Heffernan had claimed that he had not been given his bail bond at his last court appearance in Tullamore. "There is no evidence to suggest that is true and he has not referred to it in his direct evidence. The application is refused. "Mr Heffernan was remanded in custody to Cloverhill Prison and will appear at court in Tullamore on June 23.