A protestor who was wrestled aside by the Canadian Ambassador at a 1916 commemoration ceremony in Dublin has been given a two month suspended jail sentence at Blanchardstown District Court.
Brian Murphy from Rathcoole, Co Dublin interrupted a 1916 commemoration service for members of the British army, held at Grangegorman military cemetery, in May of this year.
Murphy, whose great great grandfather is buried in the cemetery, was an invited guest at the commemoration.
Judge David McHugh was told the service of commemoration had just got underway when Murphy rose from his seat and made his way forward shouting: “This is an insult. This is an insult”.
Garda John Cahill who gave evidence of arrest said as Mr Murphy rose from his seat he also unzipped his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a t-shirt which bore the words: “Justice for the Craigavon two.”
Garda Cahill told the court that as he moved towards Murphy the Canadian Ambassador, “a dignitary at the event”, tackled Mr Murphy and and forced him behind a stand. Garda Cahill said he arrested and cautioned Mr Murphy before advising him in more “ordinary language” that his protest behaviour was “insulting” and “reckless”.
Garda Cahill told Judge McHugh the event was taking place during the final stages of the 1916 centenary commemorations and was being televised at the time. It was, he said, a solemn occasion.
In his defence, Mr Murphy told his counsel Jennifer Jackson Bl that his great, great grandfather had served in the British Army for about 30 years – dying about a week before the 1916 Rising and was buried in the military cemetery. Not withstanding that connection, he said his grandfather on his father’s side had fought in Bolands Mills in the 1916 Rising and was a republican who entered politics and became a TD.
Mr Murphy told the court it was on behalf of these Irish volunteers he had made his protest, “those who fought for Irish freedom”, while the Grangegorman commemoration was for “those who may have been responsible for their deaths”.
He said a second element of his protest was in relation to two Craigavon men who he felt were the subject of “a miscarriage of justice”.
The two known as the “Craigavon Two”, Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton, were jailed in 2012 for the murder of PSNI officer Stephen Carroll who was shot dead in Craigavon, Co Armagh, in 2009.
Mr Murphy told Judge McHugh his purpose “was to make known verbally my opposition to the event and to highlight what I believe to be a miscarriage of justice”.
Judge McHugh said it was his “very clear view” that the defendant had engaged in “insulting behaviour and it was his intention to provoke a breach of the peace”.
He said he was satisfied it was “a criminal act” which infringed the constitutional rights of others to remember their dead”.
He said he felt the appropriate sentence was a custodial one and he sentenced Mr Murphy to two months in jail, suspending it for one year.
