Drunken man couldn't stand and refused to leave Tullamore hospital A&E

AN abusive man who was intoxicated had an unlit cigarette in his mouth at the emergency department in Tullamore Hospital, the local District Court heard.

Michael Garvey, Dan Scally B&B, Old Dublin Road, Kilbeggan appeared before Judge Patricia Cronin on charges alleging public drunkenness and a breach of the peace on December 10 last. A plea of guilty was entered by Donal Farrelly, solicitor.

Sergeant James O'Sullivan said the man was shouting in the accident and emergency department and was so intoxicated that could not walk and he had to be helped out to a car.

He had refused to leave the area and there were other people watching and listening to the incident. Sergeant O'Sullivan said Mr Garvey had 17 previous convictions for public order offences and most recently had been fined €105 at Athlone District Court in April last year.

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Mr Farrelly said his 55-year-old client, a father of two, had taken to drink having suffered domestic violence and he regretted what happened in the hospital.

He had attended hospital on a number of occasions because of injuries that had been inflicted on him and on the occasion before the court, he was not a danger to anyone but himself. He now lived in a B&B and was getting to grips with things having separated from his partner.

Judge Cronin said there was a poor history of offending under the Public Order Act but the court was most concerned about where the offence occurred.
The hospital is a place for people who are ill and need assistance, she said.

“They don't need somebody behaving in that fashion in a hospital. That is not acceptable behaviour from the court's point of view,” said Judge Cronin.

Mr Garvey's mobile phone rang twice when the sentencing was being outlined and Judge Cronin asked the accused to switch it off.

She ranked his offending at the “upper end” of the charge for engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour.
She said the hospital is a refuge for unwell people who are in difficult times and they, along with family members with them, were subjected to Mr Garvey's behaviour.

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She sentenced him to six weeks in prison but suspended it for six months on a €100 bond, warning the man that similar offending could not happen again, particularly in a hospital.