Water charge protester is guilty of attack on detective

AN ANTI-WATER charges protester has been convicted of assaulting a detective garda while the officer was on duty providing protection for the Taoiseach and other Cabinet ministers at a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting.

Joseph Shanahan, 64, had denied assaulting Detective Garda Pat Whelan on November 24, 2014 – but was fined €150 after being convicted.

Detective Garda Whelan was on duty at the Greenhills Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick, on the day in question.

The detective, of Henry Street Garda Station, told Limerick District Court he was ‘providing security for a number of Cabinet ministers, including An Taoiseach Enda Kenny’.

On the night, around 600 anti-water charges protesters gathered at the hotel, in a demonstration organised by the Anti-Austerity Alliance party.

Detective Garda Whelan said Shanahan, of St Michael’s Court, Watergate Flats, Limerick, was part of a small and ‘hostile’ group who shouted abuse at those attending the meeting.

Detective Garda Whelan said that, as he was returning to the hotel after escorting an unnamed man from the meeting to his car, Shanahan stepped in front of him and called him a ‘f*****g lackey’ before assaulting him.

‘As I walked past [Shanahan], he lashed out with his right elbow,’ the detective said. ‘He connected in the middle of my chest. It was a bloody good blow.’ He added that he didn’t immediately arrest Shanahan for fear it would cause further trouble in an already ‘hostile’ situation.

Shanahan, whom the court heard was a caretaker at St Mary’s Rugby Club, admitted heckling people attending the meeting, but denied assaulting Detective Garda Whelan.

‘I was calling people names, yeah,’ he told the court. ‘I call it heckling. I didn’t assault anyone.’ The accused initially denied meeting Detective Garda Whelan on the night, but later admitted under cross-examination that he and the detective ‘brushed off each other’.

Convicting Shanahan, Judge Marian O’Leary fined him €150, with three months to pay, and fixed recognisance on Shanahan’s own bond of €300.

Limerick Anti-Austerity Alliance General Election candidate Cian Prendiville was one of a number of supporters of Shanahan present in court.