Teenager charged with driving wrong way on M50 released on bail

A teenager who was remanded in custody on charges of having driven a stolen car dangerously the wrong way on the M50 in Dublin and other roads while on bail was released on consent from detention on Tuesday. The minor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been granted an article 40 habeas corpus inquiry by the High Court last Thursday into the legality of his incarceration in Oberstown Children Detention Campus.Judge David Holland was told in written evidence on Tuesday that the 16-year-old had his bail revoked last week on existing criminal charges after having failed, in the absence of legal representation, to win new bail on charges believed to be connected to the alleged dangerous driving events on the M50.Eoghan Cole SC, who appeared with barrister Karl Monahan and Aongus McCarthy Solicitors for the boy, told the judge that following negotiations with legal teams for the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Minister for Justice it had been agreed the boy could be released to members of his family who were in court.READ MOREHolland ordered the release of the boy forthwith. The minor had been brought to court in the custody of gardaí under a habeas corpus order.Cole said the agreement to release the boy had been made only on evidence arising from the transcript of proceedings in the Children’s Court last week.At an earlier appearance counsel had told the High Court that while the Children’s Court judge had allowed the boy read Garda documents seeking to revoke his existing bail and return him to Oberstown, he had no solicitor due to their ongoing industrial action against legal aid reforms. When Cole had told the High Court last week that a child could not lawfully participate in a legal case before the criminal courts, Judge Michael Quinn said that, in itself, justified his opening a habeas corpus inquiry under article 40 of the Constitution.Solicitor Robert Murphy had told the court in written evidence that the child was currently incarcerated in Oberstown. He said it would be submitted by Cole that what had taken place in the Children’s Court had amounted to a complete denial of justice resulting in the child being currently unlawfully in custody.Murphy stated that on September 18th, 2026, the applicant was arrested on suspicion of having committed offences contrary to the road-traffic Acts and related matters. These included offences of dangerous driving, involving driving the wrong way on a motorway, and other serious mattersThe child had been detained in Garda custody, during the course of which he had been brought to hospital arising from injuries he had sustained in the incident giving rise to his arrest. He said bail had been revoked in relation to previous charges comprising alleged robbery, the alleged misuse of drugs, claimed deception and allegedly having allowed himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle.