Former councillor ordered to pay €700 over ‘vile’ phone calls

A former Dublin City Councillor who made 40 threatening phone calls of “vile personal abuse” to a man over a six-hour period has been ordered to pay €700 to charity.

Killian Forde made the phone calls to Paddy Banks who was a member of the board of The Integration Centre at the time.

Tallaght court heard Forde told Mr Banks that he “would be got” and “would be a dish best served cold”.

Mr Banks told Judge Patricia McNamara that the calls were “vile personal abuse”

Forde was a Dublin City Councillor with Sinn Féin from 2004 to 2010 before switching to Labour. He resigned his seat in 2011 when he was made chief executive of the Integration Centre.

The court had heard that on October 7th 2014, Forde made a number of threatening and intimidating calls to one male. The court had heard that the calls were “drunken gibberish” and that the man had been threatened that he would be got but the injured party had not felt threatened.

Forde was before Judge McNamara Friday for a restorative justice report. Forde, (46), with addresses at Cardonagh Park, Donaghmede, and Sutton Park, Sutton, had admitted to making a hoax telephone call at an address at Homelawn Drive, Tallaght, on October 7, 2014, contrary to Section 13(1) of the Post Office (Amendment) Act, 1951.

Judge McNamara said Forde had no previous convictions and had complied with the restorative justice services. She said he was not at a risk of reoffending.

She said she would apply the Probation Act if Forde paid €700 compensation to Mr Banks. Mr Banks said he wanted the money to go to the hospice in Harolds Cross.

She adjourned the case for two weeks for Forde to make the donation.