Teenager given suspended sentence for taking part in Dublin riots

By Sonya McLean

A teenager who got involved in the Dublin riots two years ago has been given a suspended sentence for looting and rioting.

The now 19-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty from the District Court. He pleaded guilty to four charges of burglary and theft, rioting and production of a glass bottle while committing a riot on November 23, 2023.

Garda Karl Bolger said the riot broke out after a five-year-old girl was severely wounded in a stabbing at Parnell Square earlier that day, with two other children and a crèche worker also injured.

The teenager was identified after gardaí viewed CCTV footage of the riots. That footage was played to the court.

The teenager twice burgled and stole items from Footlocker in the city centre and Spar on Parliament Street. He was also captured on footage taking part in the riots and throwing glass bottles.

The court heard that the owner of the Spar shop estimated that €17,150 was the value of the stock stolen that night by looters, and there was a loss of revenue of about €5,000 as the shop had to close for a time to fix repairs. Those repairs were estimated to be in the region of €9,000 due to a damaged door, broken shutters and a smashed window.

Gardaí arrested the teenager at his home in November 2024 during which a jacket he had been wearing in the footage was found.

He admitted he had picked up an object and threw it at gardaí. “I take full responsibility for what comes,” he told officers.

Niall Storan BL, defending, acknowledged that the offence was “manifestly very serious” and was “a major public order offence that had knock on effects”.

He said his client is embarrassed and deeply ashamed by his behaviour before he read a letter of apology, written by the teenager, to the court.

The teenager outlined in the letter that he is currently working as an apprentice roofer and has got involved in his local boxing club. He said the sport is giving him “structure and discipline”.

He said he was genuinely ashamed of the harm he has done and is “truly sorry” for contributing to it.

“Finally I feel like I am on the right path. I am not the same person I was back then,” the letter concluded.

Mr Storan said his client was using cocaine and cannabis on a daily basis at the time but he now no longer uses cocaine and only occasionally uses cannabis.

He submitted that his client had “compelling mitigation” with no previous convictions, his co-operation, the fact that he was a child at the time of the riots and “the extraordinary progress he has made”.

Judge Martin Nolan said the teenager involved himself with multiple other parties in thieving and looting premises. He said he can be seen clearly on the footage “opposing the gardaí and throwing articles”.

He said when sentencing offenders who were juveniles at the time “the court always hopes for rehabilitation and change”.

Judge Nolan said since the riots the teenager has “attempted to change his life for the better”.

He imposed a sentence of two and half years which he suspended in full on strict conditions including that the teenager engage with the Probation Service for 12 months.