A DONEGAL COUNTY councillor has criticised gardaí for sending a single mother from Donegal to Mountjoy prison for not paying her TV licence.

Gary Doherty told Highland Radio the woman was awoken at 7.10am on a Monday a few weeks ago, when two uniformed gardaí knocked on her door.

The Sinn Féin councillor said the gardaí “informed her that she was for ‘up the road’ meaning that she was being taken to Mountjoy prison for fail to pay a TV licence fine of €450″.

The fine was handed down in Letterkenny District Court last spring. Doherty said the mother-of-one had already paid €212 of the money she owed.

“It was deemed by whoever was in charge that day that it was worthwhile taking two gardaí away from their duties here and taking her the whole way to Mountjoy.

The woman was taken by taxi to Mountjoy’s Dóchas Centre, where she was held for three hours before being given a bus ticket home to Donegal.

Doherty questioned the logic of this – and how much it cost.

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“It’s completely morally wrong to my mind to take this lady to the Dóchas centre in Mountjoy. It’s criminal misuse of Garda resources.”

When you think of the money it would cost. This woman had to be taken to Dublin in a taxi through Sligo and Longford to Dublin.

Doherty said he has requested a meeting with the superintendent at Letterkenny Garda Station to find out why the woman was jailed.