GARDAÍ ARE to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions after releasing without charge a 50-year-old man arrested for questioning about an assault on the Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, John O’Donoghue, at Killarney Races yesterday afternoon.
Mr O’Donoghue (51), was attending the races and is understood to have been in the betting enclosure at around 3pm when the man approached him from behind and made a comment to him before punching him to the side of the head.
A source said that Mr O’Donoghue was caught unawares and had no opportunity to protect himself against the punch, which was delivered with considerable force.
Onlookers intervened and managed to restrain the assailant until gardaí arrived at the scene, and the man was arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Law Act for questioning about an assault causing harm under Section 3 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
The man, who is originally from the Beara Peninsula in west Cork but now lives in the Bishopstown area of Cork city, was brought to Killarney Garda station, where he was questioned for several hours before being released without charge.
Gardaí were last night trying to establish what the man said to Mr O’Donoghue as he assaulted him. They were focusing on whether it related to Mr O’Donoghue’s term as minister for justice in the 1997-2002 Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition.
Initial reports suggested that the man was a republican who had a grievance with Mr O’Donoghue, but this could not be confirmed last night. It is not believed that the man has any link with mainstream republican groups.
Mr O’Donoghue, who was accompanied by his official garda driver at the race meeting, later went to Killarney Garda station to make a statement to gardaí about the incident before going for medical treatment. However, it is not believed that his injuries were serious.