Public order offender with 142 previous convictions is jailed
A repeat offender with 142 previous convictions has been jailed for one month for threatening and abusive behaviour, with a second public-order charge taken into account.
Daryl Hoey (35), of Conway Court, Macken Street, pleaded guilty to a section 6 threatening and abusive behaviour charge and a section 4 intoxication offence arising from an incident at Bath Place, Blackrock, Dublin on 13 December, 2024.
The court heard that gardai in Blackrock responded to reports of an intoxicated male in the area. The court heard that Hoey was highly intoxicated, abusive and was causing concern for his own safety and that of others.
Defence counsel, Michael O’Brien BL, said that Hoey had struggled with alcohol addiction “for a substantial period of time”, had been homeless from the age of 18 and that both issues fed into each other. He said his client has been sober for around three and a half months and is engaging with probation services.
Judge Anne Watkin accepted the submission but pointed out that Hoey had been intoxicated during a separate public-order incident on 3 September last, showing the behaviour was “continuing”.
She said: “He doesn’t have to be out on the street drinking. Not everyone who drinks commits public-order offences”.
Judge Watkin noted that Hoey had been placed on a probation bond earlier in 2025 but went on to commit further offences.
“To have 142 previous convictions, to be given the benefit of probation services, and then to be in breach of that is a big ask,” she said. Given the breach and his extensive record, she said she had no option but to impose a custodial sentence.
She convicted him of the section 6 offence and imposed a one-month sentence, taking the section 4 matter into account.
Hoey has 142 previous convictions, including 96 for public order, as well as convictions for theft and fraud, criminal damage, section 2 and section 3 assaults, failures to appear, Road Traffic Act matters, arson and attempted robbery.
Hoey was remanded to begin serving the one-month sentence, with recognisance fixed in the event of an appeal.
Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme
