{"id":359261,"date":"2026-03-22T12:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T12:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359261\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T12:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T12:01:10","slug":"barrister-argues-limerick-mans-constitutional-right-to-swear-at-garda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359261\/","title":{"rendered":"Barrister argues Limerick man\u2019s \u2018constitutional right\u2019 to swear at garda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A BARRISTER said that his client &#8211; who was in court for swearing at a garda &#8211; has a \u201cconstitutional right to express himself however he may choose\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Kieran Barry, 52, with an address at Galvone Road, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Limerick<\/a>, was charged with a Section 6 Public Order offence for calling Garda Moloney a \u201cf**cking dope\u201d during an exchange outside Henry Street garda station on September 1, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Inspector, Liam Wallace, told Judge Catherine Ryan that Mr Barry\u2019s partner had parked a car outside the garda station in an official garda parking spot.<\/p>\n<p>In a contested hearing, defendant Garda Moloney gave evidence that Mr Barry engaged in \u201cthreatening behaviour\u201d towards him.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/news\/crime-and-courts\/2041365\/limerick-man-caught-with-34k-drugs-in-attic-gets-a-suspended-sentence.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Limerick man caught with \u20ac34k drugs in attic gets a suspended sentence<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Garda Moloney said he asked Mr Barry for his name. The garda said the man replied: \u201cI don\u2019t answer to f**king guards\u201d, and proceeded to call him \u201ca f**king dope\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Garda Moloney then proceeded to caution the man, and charged him at Henry Street garda station.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Barry has 42 previous convictions, including six for the possession of drugs, a sale and supply of drugs conviction, a criminal damage conviction, and a conviction for assault.<\/p>\n<p>Barrister Joseph McMahon, representing Mr Barry, said that he was looking for a strikeout for his client.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not criminal conduct\u201d, the barrister claimed. Mr McMahon said that while the man\u2019s language \u201cmay have been noxious\u201d, \u201cthe gentleman has a constitutional right to express himself however he may choose\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Inspector Wallace disagreed with Mr McMahon\u2019s assessment, and said that Mr Barry\u2019s behaviour was a clear breach of the Public Order Act.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Ryan read the legal definition of Section 6 of the Public Order Act, and found the man to be guilty of the offence.<\/p>\n<p>The judge said: \u201cMr Barry clearly hates authority, and perhaps the authority of this court\u201d, and proceeded to sentence the man to one month\u2019s imprisonment, which was suspended for 12 months.<\/p>\n<p>-Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A BARRISTER said that his client &#8211; who was in court for swearing at a garda &#8211; has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,4579,61,60,36769,7250,43],"class_list":["post-359261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-henry-street","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick-courthouse","tag-limerick-district-court","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}