Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
FORMER TÁNAISTE AND Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said she felt “terrified” and “ran for her life” after the car she was travelling in was surrounded by anti-water charge protesters in Tallaght, Dublin on 15 November 2014.
Burton broke down as she told the trial of Solidarity TD Paul Murphy and six others about the moment she and her advisor were told by an inspector to get out of a garda car and into a waiting jeep in the midst of a large angry crowd of protesters.
“I was quite frankly terrified,” she told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, describing the large crowd surrounding her as “very, very wild”, “enraged”, “wishing all kinds of stuff on me, death,” and shouting and roaring names at her like “c*nt” and “bitch”.
The former leader of the Labour Party said Deputy Murphy looked “pretty happy with himself” and was “smiling broadly” as he spoke through a megaphone behind the unmarked garda car in which she remained sitting for over an hour with her advisor Karen O’Connell.
“He was the man with the megaphone, the person who sort of stood out,” she said.
Burton said that earlier that day, as she made her way to a graduation ceremony at a church in Tallaght, she had been struck twice in the back of the neck, once with a water bomb.
Murphy (34), south Dublin councillors Kieran Mahon (39) and Michael Murphy (53) and four other men are charged with falsely imprisoning Burton and her adviser Karen O’Connell by restricting their personal liberty without their consent at Fortunestown Road, Jobstown, Tallaght.
Paul Murphy of Kingswood Heights, Tallaght; Kieran Mahon of Bolbrook Grove, Tallaght; Michael Murphy of Whitechurch Way, Ballyboden, Dublin; Frank Donaghy (71) of Alpine Rise, Tallaght; Ken Purcell (50) of Kiltalown Green; Michael Banks (46) of Brookview Green, Tallaght and Scott Masterson (34) of Carrigmore Drive, Tallaght have all denied the charges.
‘Very happy’
Burton told Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, it had been a very happy and celebratory occasion when she arrived at the education centre of An Cosán in Tallaght where about 60 people were graduating with a variety of degrees and diplomas.
She said she got a shock when she was struck in the back of the neck twice, once by a water bomb, and could feel the back of her hair and her jacket being drenched.
She said her advisor gave her a loan of her jacket and that she dried her hair as best as she could with a tissue before she spoke to graduates at the church.
Burton said that towards the end of the ceremony gardaí advised them to leave very quickly by a side door to a waiting unmarked garda saloon car.
She said when she and her advisor got into the car, it was immediately surrounded by a large crowd shouting, banging on the car and throwing eggs and other missiles.
Paul Murphy TD is among those arriving at court on Monday. Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie
Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie
The court heard that O’Connell became extremely upset and began to cry, and that Burton put her arms around her.
Burton became upset as she told the court that her shoe began to come off as she tried to make her way to another garda car, on instructions from a superintendent.
Advertisement
“There were two lines of gardaí to one side of the car when I got out. It was very terrifying, the crowd surged, the shouting and roaring was much more intense.
The inspector stood in front of me and walked backwards, he kept saying ‘Look at me, look at me’, to try and keep me focused, because I didn’t know what was going to happen. I kept thinking I was going to fall. I began to lose one of my shoes. The crowd was very, very wild. He kept saying, ‘Don’t worry about your shoe’.
“I kept thinking if the crowd got us, where would we run to, and how would I run without my shoe,” she said.
Shattered
The court heard the jeep that Burton and her advisor were escorted into was also surrounded and blocked by protesters, and that the left windscreen was shattered.
“The guards were getting a horrible time, they were being pushed and shoved and pelted with eggs,” she said, describing one guard beside her car window as “very stoical, he just stayed right where he was”.
Burton said the jeep made “very painful progress, inch by inch by inch” through the crowd, which included a number of children aged nine or ten.
TD and former Labour leader Joan Burton.
After a total of three hours, the jeep turned off the main road towards the Jobstown Inn, and the guards told Burton and her advisor that when they opened the doors, they would have to run to another car.
“I know that road since I was a child. I felt I was running for my life. I ran up the incline of the hill, Karen was beside me, the crowd running to follow us.
I just legged it as fast I could, I don’t know how I got the energy. I was very stiff and cold when I got out of the car.
Burton said gardaí then drove her into the hills and to the Phoenix Park, where she used the toilet facilities and had a cup of tea.
She said throughout the incident a number of people contacted her by text, phone call and social media, including her daughter and her Labour Party colleague Brendan Howlin.
Videos
Burton said she took a couple of photos in the first car and gave her phone to her advisor in the second car.
The court heard that there were 42 videos of the incident on her phone when she gave it to gardaí to download.
Burton said the crowd was shouting and roaring abuse at her and the gardaí, including “derogatory names for women and for the guards” such as c*nt, bitch, fuck, “shame on you”, she said.
She described one woman attacking and banging the car who was “beside herself with rage – very, very, very angry, wishing all kinds of stuff on me, death,” she said.
She told Guerin, defending Paul Murphy, she couldn’t hear much political language and was more struck by the personalised language and name-calling of herself and the gardaí.
However, she said at one point she heard Murphy say “peaceful protest” or “something like that”.
The trial continues before Judge Melanie Greally and a jury of seven men and five women.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Ireland needs 23 beds for eating disorders - but seven years on, there's still no sign of them
Paul O'Donoghue
9 hrs ago
9.6k
35
Catholic Church
Vatican says Pope Francis 'rested well all night' in hospital, after 'slight improvement' in condition
Updated
1 hr ago
4.5k
8
Murder Investigation
American mother drops newborn to death from Paris hotel window
19 hrs ago
51.1k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say