A 19-year-old man who set two gardaí alight by throwing petrol bombs during riots at the Love Ulster parade in Dublin last February has been jailed for five years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Ciaran Maguire, Kippure Park, Finglas, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and endangerment by throwing petrol bombs on O'Connell Street on February 25th, 2006.
On hearing from defence counsel that Maguire had initially not realised the seriousness of the offences Judge Desmond Hogan asked: "How can someone throw petrol bombs at some one else and not realise the consequences?"
Judge Hogan imposed a five-year sentence on the count of violent disorder and three years on the count of endangerment to run concurrently.
Garda Gerard Moore told Paul Carroll, prosecuting, that gardaí were aware that a group called Families Acting for Innocent Relatives from Northern Ireland had arranged a parade in the city centre on February 25th and that a counter demonstration had been organised by Republican Sinn Féin.
He said a public order unit clothed in riot gear formed a cordon on O'Connell Street and began to receive verbal abuse at about 10.30 that morning. This escalated into violence at about 12.30 pm with bottles, stones and paving slabs being thrown at gardaí.
Garda Moore said two colleagues, Sgt Patrick McMenamin and Garda Jane Heaney, were set alight by a petrol bomb later found to have been thrown by Maguire.
Maguire admitted being involved in the riots during interview.
He told gardaí he had wanted to stop the parade going past the GPO and had brought a bag with bottles, petrol and rags into the city centre that morning, stashing it in Parnell street until the afternoon.
He admitted making five petrol bombs but said he had only thrown three.
Garda Moore said Maguire had initially been proud of his actions in stopping the march but began to show remorse when the seriousness of the offences became apparent and he denied any involvement with or support for republican organisations.