A 158-year-old law which provides for a maximum fine of £2 for violent behaviour in a Garda station should be scrapped, Judge Sean MacBride said yesterday. The Dublin Police Act 1842 is a "historical anachronism" which is bringing the law into disrepute, he said at Dublin District Court. "The £2 fine is derisory and I hope the powers that be will quickly attend to the matter of repealing it." He was speaking after he heard how a young man who had broken into a car parked in the driveway of a house became abusive and violent after he was arrested and brought to Blanchardstown Garda station.
Mark Fay (22), Wellview Avenue, Mulhuddart, Dublin, pleaded guilty to criminally damaging the car at Parslickstown Close early on February 6th last. Judge MacBride ordered that he pay £150 compensation to the injured party and imposed a three-month prison sentence suspended for three years on condition that he remain sober in public, attend an alcohol awareness programme and not trespass on any private property again.