A Dublin city councillor has been cleared of a criminal offence for failing to leave the vicinity of a water protest in Dublin last year.
Councillor Patrick Dunne, 48, with an address at St Gerard's Road, Greenhills, had been accused of failing to comply with a garda's direction to leave the vicinity.
Cllr Dunne was cleared by Judge Aeneas McCarthy who dismissed his case.
TD Joan Collins told gardaí she had a right to protest and would not move when asked to let a GMC/Sierra water-meter installation crew in Dublin do their work, Dublin District Court has heard.
The outgoing independent TD and Right2Change campaigner is before the court for what has been called the 'Crumlin 11' trial.
Gardaí gave evidence that GMC/Sierra staff were threatened by water protesters at Parnell Road in Crumlin on the morning of 20 April last.
Ms Collins and her ten co-defendants, including Mr Dunne had been accused of failing to comply with a garda's direction to leave the vicinity. Two of their co-defendants have additional charges for obstructing gardaí. All 11 pleaded not guilty.
The trial of the remaining ten continues tomorrow.
The court heard that the Dublin South-Central TD and Cllr Dunne arrived at the scene where a team of GMC/Sierra water meter installers were attempting to work but were met by protesters.
Garda Sergeant David Lynch told the court that when he arrived at Parnell Road he saw six or seven people interfering with workers. Later on there were about 30 to 40 protesters there, he said.
He claimed he received verbal abuse and was called "f***ing scumbag".
He told the court that he, other gardai and the GMC/Sierra workers were threatened. However, he agreed that Cllr Dunne was neither abusive nor using foul language and had not committed an offence but Gda Sgt Lynch added that he was part of the group.
He told the court a youth threatened him that "they would have a group of 50 to 100 and we would need every car in Crumlin to police it".
He said some were trespassing in gardens. He said that he asked the group to desist numerous times and he was concerned for a lot young women with children who could not get past and had to cross the road.
He spoke to Ms Collins and Cllr Dunne and another councillor "to get some middle ground to let GMC/Sierra workers do their work or leave" and was told by the TD that "they were entitled to protest and they were not going to move".
Gda Sgt Lynch thought a breach of the peace was likely to occur and he said he gave the protesters a direction under the public order act and outlined to them the penalties of not complying.
He said he did that numerous times and he asked them to move on peacefully. "With that they became more agitated and abusive and sat down," he said.
He described the language used by some of the protesters as foul and disgraceful.
In cross-examination he agreed with lawyers for the defence that Ms Collins and Mr Dunne had been co-operative and had not been there at the outset of the protest.
At one point, they moved away to discuss the situation.
Garda Ann Marie Hennessey told the court yesterday that she cautioned Edel Kenny, 39, of Monasterboice Road, who also has an additional charge for obstruction.
She said the woman attempted to kick her and had to be lifted off the ground. She continued to be extremely aggressive and was handcuffed, Gda Hennessey said.
She said she did not know where Ms Kenny got marks on her arms after she was shown a photo taken on the day after the arrest.
The court has also been shown video footage from GoPro cameras and lawyers for the defendants have been quizzing gardaí on whether or not they heard the caution being issued to their clients.
The court has heard that Ms Collins was arrested after refusing to move on. In an RTÉ radio interview eight days later with Dave Fanning, she agreed she had been obstructing the workers and ignoring gardaí.
Another Garda has told the court that one of the protesters was violent and had to be pepper sprayed. The defence put it to him that the man could not have been violent because he had been put on the ground and in handcuffs. The Garda said the man was kicking out.
John O'Reilly, 62, from Leighland Road, Crumlin is accused of not obeying the direction. His barrister argued that the first time he was spoken to by a Garda was when he was arrested.
Oisin O Raw, 18, from Derravaragh Road in Terenure had a camera and claimed he was there as a freelance journalist to get news footage, his barrister said.
