Fine for having foil-lined bag

A STUDENT caught with a foil-lined bag outside a Dublin shopping centre has been fined €80.

Danielle Connolly (27) was one of two women stopped by gardai, who believed the bag was intended for use in shoplifting.

Connolly, of an apartment block at Clongriffin, Dublin 13 admitted before Blanchardstown District Court to possession of a foil-lined bag for use in a theft at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre on March 11, 2012.

The court heard gardai found the bag in a car.

Mum-of-one Connolly had been suffering from a heroin addiction at the time, her lawyer said.

She had now been clean for 18 months.

"This offence triggered a change in her life," her lawyer said, and she has just completed a certificate course in psychology.

Father-of-two resisted arrest

A FATHER-of-two who violently resisted arrest was very drunk at the time, a court heard.

Martin Kavanagh (26) has been trying to curtail his drinking, his solicitor told the court.

"Reason flies out the window when he has been drinking," said Fiona Brennan.

Judge Denis McLoughlin fined Kavanagh €150.

The defendant, of Shangan Green in Ballymun, admitted before Blanchardstown District Court to public drunkenness and resisting arrest at Hampton Wood Avenue in Finglas on February 16, 2014.

Garda Janice O'Neill said she came across two men acting suspiciously. Kavanagh was very drunk and when gardai went to arrest him he violently resisted.

Ms Brennan said Kavanagh was sorry for his behaviour.