A man who told gardai to ‘fuck off’ while drunk at a bus station in Letterkenny has been fined in court.
Eamon O’Brien was before Letterkenny District Court in connection with the incident on April 22, 2025.
Sergeant Jim Collins told the court that gardai were called to Letterkenny Bus Station at 10.51pm. A member of the public reported that an intoxicated male was laying on the ground outside the station.
Gardai encountered O’Brien, who was described as being extremely intoxicated.
O’Brien, who has an address at Johnstown, Glebe, Rathdowney, Co Laois, told gardai to ‘fuck off’ and was said to be incoherent when asked for his name.
Sergeant Collins said O’Brien was cooperative once he sobered up.
He was charged with three breaches of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994, namely failing to give gardai his name, using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in a public place and being intoxicated in a public place.
O’Brien had one previous conviction, that being for a public order incident which was dealt with at a recent sitting of Ballyshannon District Court.
O’Brien’s solicitor, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said his client is a 65-year-old single man who has had a number of health issues and a hearing impairment.
He said O’Brien has had “substantial assistance” from another jurisdiction and added: “He is more a man to be pitied rather than laughed at.”
Mr Gallagher said that O’Brien’s only previous conviction happened the previous week “and that’s all in 65 years”.
Legal aid was granted to Mr Gallagher.
For refusing to provide his details, O’Brien was fined €150 by Judge Éiteáin Cunningham and given six months to pay. A charge of being intoxicated in a public place was marked as taken into consideration while the other charge was struck out in light of the accused’s guilty plea.
