Man found sleeping on a Buncrana footpath had overindulged in drink following a funeral

A man who had overindulged in alcohol following a funeral was fast asleep on the street in Buncrana when gardai encountered him earlier this year.

Kevin O’Hagan, of 6 Links View Park, Ludden, Buncrana, pleaded guilty to separate charges of public intoxication and giving a false address to the guards when he appeared before Buncrana District Court.

Sergeant Conor Mulkerns outlined the facts of the case against the 53-year-old production operator.

He explained how Garda Colm Molloy was on mobile patrol at Lower Main Street, Buncrana on Sunday, June 22, 2025 at approximately 01.50, when he came across a gentleman fast asleep on the footpath.

Garda Molloy woke the male, who was unsteady on his feet, and he was arrested under Section 24 of the Public Order Act for his own safety. He then provided a false address to the gardai.

Following his release, Sgt Mulkerns said, Mr O’Hagan provided gardai with his correct name and address.

Defence solicitor Ciaran MacLochlainn conceded that “drink got the better” of his client.

“My client is a 53-year-old man who works as a production operator in Vertiv, the engineering firm in Burnfort.”

“He had been at a funeral earlier that day, and he was with some friends to commiserate on their late friend who had died. He took too much, and unfortunately the drink got the better of him.”

“He sat down on the footpath and fell asleep. Fortunately for him, the guards then came along and took him in.”

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Regarding the refusal to provide an address charge, Mr MacLochlainn said Mr O’Hagan mistakenly gave an old address.

“When he was arrested originally, he gave a previous address of Northland Road in Derry; he had forgotten that he had moved to Lisfannon and had been living there for two years.”

“However, before he was released from the Garda Station, he had sobered up, and he gave his proper address; he lives here in Lisfannon, and he has no previous convictions,” the Buncrana solicitor added.

Judge Emile Daly said she would spare Mr O’Hagan a criminal conviction, given the circumstances and his previous unblemished record.

She ordered him to donate €100 to the St Vincent de Paul charity shop in Buncrana in lieu of a conviction.

He left the courtroom and returned a few minutes later with a receipt for the amount donated, and the judge duly struck the case out.

“Thank you,” Mr O’Hagan said.