A FINE GAEL Senator whose car was seized by gardai in Galway, has admitted to being "completely in the wrong" for failing to display a current tax disc.

The mercedes of Fidelma Healy Eames was seized during rush hour between Moneenageisha Cross and Cemetry Cross in Galway city on July 2 of this year.

The Galway senator has been in the news on a number of occasions in the past month.

She was fined for boarding a train without a ticket on July 12 and last week was involved in a court case taken by a plumber over a failure to pay for works carried out at her Oranmore home.

On that occasion the judge dismissed the case against her but ordered her husband Michael Eames to pay over €12,000 to Michael Allen.

The seizure of her car occurred in the middle of the Volvo Ocean Race which saw thousands of tourists descend on the city.

Ms Healy Eames confirmed today that the car was seized and admitted that she had been in the wrong in the matter.

The Galway Senator said she had been planning on selling the car and was using public transport to travel to and from Dublin, as a result she neglected the car tax.

She added that she had been left 'mortified' after the car was seized by contractors operating on behalf of gardai during rush hour.

And she added that on this matter she was totally in the wrong.

“I was using public transport up and down to Dublin and I had neglected the car tax. There is no excuse. I was completely in the wrong,” she told the Galway Advertiser.

Under road traffic legislation gardaí are empowered to seize a car if its tax is one month or more out of date or not properly displayed.