{"id":484351,"date":"2026-06-05T10:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/484351\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:20:10","slug":"security-personnel-racially-abused-assaulted-in-altercation-at-co-laois-bog-court-told-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/484351\/","title":{"rendered":"Security personnel racially abused, assaulted in altercation at Co Laois bog, court told \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Security personnel working at a Co Laois<\/a> bog were racially abused, threatened and assaulted during an altercation with individuals allegedly trespassing at the site, Bord na M\u00f3na<\/a> has claimed in the High Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the hours-long stand-off at Garrymore Bog, Tinnahinch, last month, several individuals allegedly surrounded a cabin, used by security hired by Bord na M\u00f3na, with flammable material, before pouring accelerant on the material. <\/p>\n

The claims were made in proceedings brought against Liam Gorman, who Bord na M\u00f3na says is trespassing on the bog in contempt of High Court orders. <\/p>\n

The semistate body also alleges Gorman is interfering with its work at the bog, which is owned by subsidiary company Bord na M\u00f3na Biomass Ltd.<\/p>\n

Gorman, an agricultural contractor, has been repeatedly ordered by the High Court not to trespass on the 160-hectare bog.<\/p>\n

He has previously claimed his family owned some of the land for generations, and that it had been abandoned by Bord na M\u00f3na.<\/p>\n

Gorman, who is representing himself in the proceedings, asserts that he is not in breach of any court orders. <\/p>\n

On Thursday, Ois\u00edn Collins, barrister for Bord na M\u00f3na, appearing with Nevan Powell, instructed by OSM Partners LLP, moved an application seeking the attachment and committal to prison of Gorman, of Silverwood, Mountmellick, Co Laois. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018\u20ac100k a minute, no trespassing\u2019 sign put up on land at centre of row over unlawful peat extractionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Bord na M\u00f3na is also seeking the attachment and committal of three other individuals allegedly trespassing and interfering at the bog: Kevin Barry, Daniel Marsh and Dermot Marsh, all of Clonin Estate, Clonin, Rhode, Co Offaly. <\/p>\n

At Thursday\u2019s hearing, Judge Ois\u00edn Quinn reviewed video footage of the May 22nd altercation between security staff hired by Bord na M\u00f3na and various individuals. The judge noted the conduct of the individuals in the footage \u201cacting aggressive\u201d and \u201cbeing racially abusive\u201d towards security staff. <\/p>\n

He noted Gorman can be heard making statements to the effect of \u201cthe Irish are coming\u201d and \u201cf*** the High Court\u201d. <\/p>\n

Other individuals could be heard stating: \u201cThis is f***ing Ireland man … This is not Africa,\u201d and \u201cWe\u2019re going to put yous back to your own country.\u201d <\/p>\n

Collins submitted that it was clear from the video evidence that Gorman was a \u201cringleader\u201d involved in blocking his client from carrying out its business at the bog, in direct breach of court orders. <\/p>\n

In written evidence, Richard Thomas, a security operative present at Garrymore Bog, stated he and his colleagues were \u201csubjected to horrific racial abuse, threats of violence and threats to kill\u201d during the altercation. <\/p>\n

About 40 \u201chostile\u201d individuals gathered at the bog over the course of the stand-off, Thomas stated. <\/p>\n

The stand-off continued into the early hours of May 23rd, Thomas said, when threats of violence escalated. He said the security personnel retreated to a cabin they had placed at the site. <\/p>\n

The security staff required Garda assistance to withdraw from the site after tyres and other flammable materials were placed around the cabin and doused with accelerant, Thomas stated. <\/p>\n

In his submission to the court, Gorman denied that he was in breach of court orders, stating that he remained on a private laneway during the altercation and did not enter bog lands that the court previously ordered he stay away from.<\/p>\n

Gorman said that he did not engage in racist abuse or threats of violence against the security staff. He made several allegations against the security personnel, including that they were unlawfully present at the site and engaged in damaging his property.<\/p>\n

Gorman is seeking to bring separate proceedings against Bord na M\u00f3na arising from the dispute. <\/p>\n

The judge made an order for the attachment of Barry, Daniel Marsh and Dermot Marsh, and directed they be brought before the court on Tuesday to answer Bord na M\u00f3na\u2019s claim that they are in contempt of court orders. <\/p>\n

The judge adjourned the case to next week. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Security personnel working at a Co Laois bog were racially abused, threatened and assaulted during an altercation with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[27799,72,61,60,8285],"class_list":["post-484351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bord-na-mona","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-laois"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484351","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=484351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}