This article is from page 12 of the 2007-11-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
THERE was anger and aggression in the air as missiles were hurled and glasses and bottles smashed in a ‘life threatening’ Traveller riot, which
caused €14,000 damage to an Ennis pub.
Up to 40 men and women fought each other, at a double engagement party at Brandon’s bar, O’Connell Street, Ennis, on May 3, 2006.
Arising from the fracas, nine members of the Travelling commu- nity – aged between 19 and 29 – were charged with violent disorder. Anoth- er individual was charged with pub- lic order offences. All pleaded guilty
at Ennis Circuit Court.
One of the 10, Patrick Quilligan, (19) of Knockane, Newcastlewest, who held a bottle up to the owner of the bar, Declan Brandon, was re- manded in custody for six weeks, be- fore the sentence 1s finalised.
The other nine were fined various sums, totaling the €14,000 cost of the damage.
Additional garda reinforcements had to be brought in from Shannon and Ennistymon to deal with the juke)
When gardai initially arrived at the scene, one Traveller had his t-shirt torn off and had his fist clenched.
Gardai heard roaring and shouting coming from the laneway, while sev- eral glasses were smashed.
Recalling the incident to the court, Garda Shane O’Connell said, “You could see people hitting each other and there were glasses smashing.
“Td call it a riot, something that I’ve never seen before, highly dan- gerous,’ he said.
One young man fired a bottle in the direction of the gardai. It skimmed over a garda’s head and hit a door. Another bottle hit the squad car which was parked outside the door, while other missiles were thrown at the
gardai. A stool was smashed and part of it was also hurled at the gardai.
Garda O’Connell said he took out his baton. He told one drunk young man to put down a piece of wood and, when he refused twice, he struck him on the arm with the baton. The baton broke in two.
“It was a volatile situation. There was no point staying there. It was too dangerous,” said the garda.
Later that night, two young men at- tempted to rob the same bar.
One of the two, who has never been identified, pointed a piece of timber at Mr Brandon and threatened to put it “through your f***ing neck”’.
Another, Patrick Quilligan, held a bottle to Mr Brandon’s head.
Judge Michael White said the ac- tions of a small minority of Travel- lers impacted on the wider Travelling community, most of whom are law abiding citizens. He said the incident was “life-threatening” and someone could have been seriously hurt.
Those fined were given varying lengths of time to pay.