A senior officer of the British Inland Revenue Service who became involved in the 1995 Lansdowne Road riot organised by English fans has been banned from the State.
Sean James Michael Knighton (32), Regents Court, Fallsend, Sunderland, was also given a three-year suspended sentence by Judge Kieran O'Connor at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Knighton admitted causing criminal damage to seating at Lansdowne Road stadium during the Ireland-England soccer friendly on February 15th, 1995.
The court was told 201 seats were destroyed and £20,000 worth of damage was caused.
Judge Kieran O'Connor said Knighton did not deserve to go to jail or lose his job because of his offence.
But, he ordered him to pay more than £5,000 to the Harold's Cross hospice for the dying and banned him from entering the Republic again.
"I regret banning any visitor, particularly an English person, from Ireland as I am always delighted to see English visitors in Ireland. But we don't want your type here," said the judge.
Det Sgt Pat King told Mr Fergal Foley, prosecuting, that Knighton had been promoted to the responsible rank of revenue officer within the Inland Revenue shortly before he travelled on his own to the soccer friendly between the Ireland and England.
He had been sitting close to where the trouble began in the upper west stand of the Lansdowne stadium but had not been a part of the "organised factions" who came to the match to cause trouble.
For a bizarre reason, he started ripping up seating. His extradition had been sought during the investigation that followed but he returned to Ireland voluntarily and co-operated, the detective said.
The match had started at 6.17 p.m. and 23 minutes later Ireland scored. England responded with a goal a short time later but it was disallowed.
At 6.45 p.m. trouble flared and the players were sent to the dressing rooms. Factions among the English supporters began ripping up seats and pelting Irish fans below them with the debris.
The match was officially abandoned and the 44,000-strong crowd was evacuated from the ground.
In all 27 people were injured in the rioting and another man collapsed and died of a heart attack outside the ground. The cost of the damage, including 201 broken seats, came to £20,000, the court was told.
Det Sgt King said Knighton had no convictions and had never even been spoken to by police previously for any infringement of the law.