Boy (16) banned from Luas

A teenager's drunkenness brought Luas trams in Dublin to a temporary standstill, a court has heard.

The boy (16) was brought before the Dublin Children's Court yesterday, where he was charged with Public Order Act offences, for being intoxicated to such an extent that he was a danger to himself and others, and for engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace. The alleged incident happened on Dublin's Marlborough Street, on Thursday afternoon.

Garda Kelly Finnegan, of Store Street station, said the boy was "extremely intoxicated on what we believe to be drink and drugs".

She sought a bail condition to be imposed on the boy, who resides in a care unit, to ban him from loitering at Luas stops or on the trams. Prior to his arrest, the boy had been sitting on the front windscreen of one of the Luas trams, making it unable to move.

As a result, the service of other Luas red-line trams were also disrupted.

Judge Ryan agreed to impose the additional bail condition and remanded the boy, who was accompanied to court by a care worker, on bail to appear again next month to enter pleas.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times