Laois woman abused staff at Department of Socal Protection office after her payment was refused
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A PORTLAOISE woman whose payment had been refused told social welfare staff that one day they would be “on the other side” and would “know all about it.” Those utterances were enough to land her in court last week on a charge of engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at the Department of Social Protection, Portlaoise on 29 May this year.
Cora Cuddy (25), 26 Birchgrove, Portlaoise pleaded guilty to the offence.
Relaying the facts to the court, Garda Sgt Kirby said that at 3pm that day, the defendant went into the social welfare office and told a staff member that was present that “one of these days you’ll be on the other side and you’ll know all about it.” “She was intoxicated at the time,” said Ms Cuddy’s solicitor Barry Fitzgerald.
He said that she went into the office after a payment had been stopped on her because she had missed signing on the previous week.
He said: “They were just flippant comments. No way were they premeditated. It was a sentence that was just bandied out.” Judge Andrew Gubbins said that social protection staff have enough to be doing without having to deal with people like Ms Cuddy.
He said: “It was 3pm in the day and a bit of a sinister comment was made.” He went on to convict Ms Cuddy of the offence and fined her €200. He allowed her six months to pay the fine and fixed recognisance in the event she wished to appeal against the sentence.
