Records show a member of the public tried to bring a “murder weapon” through a security screen into a court building, saying they planned to hand it to gardaí as evidence.
A log of Courts Service incidents and accidents for 2024 also disclosed how a knife was found stashed inside a courtroom in a plastic bag, in a separate incident, while another person tried to smuggle a replica handgun into the criminal courts.
A note of the “murder weapon” incident from July 2024 said that a knife was identified in a visitor’s bag during security screening at the main entrance of the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) in Dublin.
“This … member of the public approached the security screening personnel and declared that [they] possessed a murder weapon in [their] bag and expressed [their] intention to hand it over to the court gardaí.”
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The security man immediately contacted gardaí who promptly arrived and “took possession of the knife for further investigation and appropriate action”.
The log said: “The situation was managed effectively by security personnel and court gardaí ensuring no threat to public safety.” The log did not include details of the outcome of the Garda investigation.
In April, “a small knife in a rigid plastic bag” was discovered in the CCJ and a Garda investigation began. It was later said it could not be determined with any certainty who had brought the weapon into the building.
The log of incidents detailed the discovery last March of an air pistol inside a backpack from a person trying to get into the courts. The replica weapon was confiscated, with gardaí called and the owner later told the item would not be returned to them.
Another person tried to bring a “large wrench tool” through a scanner, the records show. When they were told it would have to be left at the entrance gate, the person became “verbally abusive” and gardaí had to be called.
A note of the incident said: “Upon receiving the returned item, the [person] threatened to assault [security] operative with [it].
“A garda sergeant who was leaving the building overheard the threat and removed the [person] from the building.”
In another case last summer, the legal representative of a high security prisoner at Portlaoise was attacked by their own client. The two of them were discussing the case when the lawyer “stumbled out of the holding cell having been physically assaulted”.
Asked about the incident log, a Courts Service spokesman said: “We continuously manage the safety arrangements for all properties, including keeping a register and the reporting of incidents.
“This active management helps us ensure the optimum environment for the health and safety of all persons entering Courts Service buildings.”
