A May Day protester who struck a TV3 cameraman across the nose with a beer can has undertaken to pay him €1,000 compensation.
Horticultural student Ronan O'Dulane (28), of Clontarf, Dublin, pleaded guilty to assaulting Conan Doyle when the anti-EU accession protest turned into a riot at Navan Road in May 2004.
Det Sgt Oliver Flaherty told Dublin District Court that Mr Doyle was filming the protest as it reached the Halfway House roundabout.
O'Dulane, who was part of the front line of protesters, went up to the cameraman and struck him on the nose with a beer can. Mr Doyle was taken by colleagues behind the Garda line where he was given medical treatment. He did not need to be hospitalised.
Although there were 29 people arrested that day, O'Dulane was not one of them.
However, gardaí inspected various footage and photographs taken on the day, and five months later two officers recognised O'Dulane from a still photograph.
His solicitor said he was very sorry for what he had done. "He wishes me to apologise to Mr Doyle who was entitled to cover these events without being assaulted," the solicitor said.
Mr O'Dulane also apologised in court. His solicitor said he had €200 in court as compensation. He had no previous convictions.
Judge Brian Sheridan said it was particularly serious in that it was somebody going about their daily work.
He said he wanted "a serious level of compensation", particularly as it was a year and a half since the offence. He adjourned the case to February 1st.