A drunken publican called Gardai a “useless shower of c****s” after they visited his bar and found it full of customers at 2.45am.
Martin Coyle of the Village Inn, Kerrykeel, appeared at Letterkenny District Court.
Gardai called to the bar in the early hours of June 14th, 2021 and knocked on the door after hearing voices but the bar went quiet.
They went to the rear of the premises and saw customers exiting the bar.
They also met Coyle who was drunk.
Garda Sergeant Jim Collins said that Coyle became aggressive and told Gardai “F*** off, you useless shower of c****.”
“There was an exchange and he basically told Gardai to clear off,” added Sergeant Collins.
The court was told the father-of-two has a number of previous offences under the licensing laws.
His solicitor, Mr Kieran Dillon, said his client had suffered as a result of the closures during the Covid pandemic but that he was not using this as an excuse.
He had only reopened around this time and that he was very stressed getting the premises ready to reopen.
Mr Dillon said his client had also suffered a very serious assault in the bar back in 2012 and that the lockdown had also affected his wellbeing.
However, he was now trying to cope and that he now has a new system and a new manager in place in the bar.
On the night in question there had been a birthday party in the bar.
Judge Éiteáin Cunningham noted that he had a similar offence back in 2018 before the pandemic struck.
Judge Cunningham said she was concerned by the level of the accused man’s behaviour and adjourned the case for consideration of sentencing.