Two members of the official security team of the President, Mrs McAleese, became embroiled in what a judge yesterday described as a "highly bizarre" physical altercation at Áras an Uachtaráin.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne said in the Circuit Civil Court that the President and her family were not in residence when "this unseemly incident" between Garda James McManus and Garda Gerry O'Brien occurred.
She had heard Mr McManus, now retired, outline an alleged triple assault on him by Garda O'Brien in the grounds of the Áras during Christmas week 1998. He sued Garda O'Brien for damages for assault.
Mr McManus told his counsel, Mr Dan Boland, that he and Garda O'Brien had been on duty protecting the President when Garda O'Brien's car approached his gate.
He claimed Garda O'Brien pushed him twice towards the security hut and when inside pushed him again over an armchair. Delph and china were knocked off a table, and Garda O'Brien searched him for the key and rifled drawers in a bureau before leaving.
Garda O'Brien had returned with Sgt James Phelan, and he had opened the gates and reported the assault to him.
Garda O'Brien said he had received a message to ring his home urgently and when he did he was told his child, who had been sick, had suspected meningitis. He had been given permission by Sgt Phelan to go home, and when he arrived at the security hut Mr McManus had asked him where he thought he was going.
"I said, Jim, I don't have time for this. I have a sick child. Would you open the gate?" Garda O'Brien told his counsel, Mr Ronan Munro.
Mr McManus had put the key in his pocket and walked into the gate lodge. He had refused to give him the key and, when he attempted to phone Sgt Phelan, he and Mr McManus began shouldering each other to and fro.
Judge Dunne said Garda O'Brien had received permission to leave and arrangements had been made for his replacement. There had been an altercation between both men in the hut but she did not think there had been an assault in either the technical or real sense.
She dismissed Mr McManus's claim for damages for assault and ordered him to pay District Court costs to cover the expenses of Garda O'Brien's legal team.