Public order offences in Ireland: sections 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 explained

Public order charges are the District Court's most common non-motoring work. In 2025 the court dealt with 48,537 public order and assault offences, up 11% over two years. Most come from a single night: a row outside a pub, a refusal to move on when a garda asked, words shouted at the wrong moment. The Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 turns each of those into a numbered section, and the number on your summons or charge sheet decides the maximum the court can impose.

This guide takes the five sections that fill the District Court lists, sections 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9, and explains each in plain English with its fine class and custody maximum. It then covers the fixed charge, the Adult Caution Scheme, and what the court tends to do with a first offence.

The five sections at a glance

The Fines Act 2010 puts every fine into a class. Class D means up to €1,000; Class E means up to €500. The court must take your means into account before fixing any fine.

A "public place" under the Act is wide: a street, a park, a train or bus, a pub or shop while it is open, and any place the public has access to, whether on payment or not. A stairwell in a block of flats and a car park both count.

Section 4: intoxication in a public place

Section 4 makes it an offence to be in a public place while intoxicated to such an extent that there is a reasonable apprehension that you might endanger yourself or anyone nearby. "Intoxicant" covers alcohol, drugs and any combination of them. Being drunk is not enough on its own; the garda has to be able to say why your state gave rise to that apprehension.

A garda can seize the drink. Since 2006 a garda can also issue a fixed charge notice of €100 instead of applying for a summons; pay it in time and there is no court and no conviction. The drunk and disorderly guide covers that notice in detail.

If the matter does go to court the maximum is a Class E fine, up to €500. There is no custody for section 4.

Section 5: disorderly conduct

Section 5 is "offensive conduct" in a public place, which the Act defines as unreasonable behaviour that is likely to cause serious offence or annoyance to a reasonable person. It is an offence between midnight and 7 am without more, and at any other time once a garda has asked you to stop and you have carried on. The second limb matters: a lot of section 5 charges turn on what happened after the warning.

The maximum is a Class D fine, up to €1,000. The garda can issue a fixed charge notice of €140 instead of a summons. There is no custody.

Section 6: threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour

Section 6 covers threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in a public place, where you intend to provoke a breach of the peace or are reckless as to whether one is provoked. It is the section used for shouting at a garda, squaring up to someone outside a chipper, or a stream of abuse at a bus stop. No one has to be hit, and no breach of the peace has to happen.

The maximum is a Class D fine, up to €1,000, and/or up to 3 months. The custody power exists, and the court may use it, but most section 6 cases in the District Court end without it. There is no fixed charge for section 6; it is summons or charge sheet.

Section 8: failing to comply with a Garda direction

Section 8 is the "move on" power. Where a garda has reasonable grounds to think you are loitering in a public place in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable apprehension for the safety of people or property, or are committing an offence under sections 4 to 7, the garda can direct you to leave the area immediately and peaceably. Failing to comply without lawful authority or reasonable excuse is the offence.

Two things follow. The garda has to have given a direction, and the direction has to have been one the Act allows. Whether it was is something the court hears evidence on at a hearing if you plead not guilty.

The maximum is a Class D fine, up to €1,000, and/or up to 6 months. That is the highest custody figure among the five sections, and it is the reason a section 8 charge is one where the legal aid tests can be met.

Section 9: wilful obstruction

Section 9 makes it an offence, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, to wilfully prevent or interrupt the free passage of a person or vehicle in a public place. It is the section used for standing in a doorway and refusing to move, blocking a road, or obstructing a footpath. It carries a Class D fine, up to €1,000, and no custody.

Section 19 is a different matter

Assaulting or obstructing a peace officer under section 19 is sometimes charged alongside one of the five sections. It is a more serious offence, with a Class A fine, up to €5,000, and/or up to 12 months in the District Court, and it is not on the Adult Caution list. If section 19 appears on your charge sheet, the section 2 assault guide and the legal aid tool are the places to start, and a solicitor matters.

The fixed charge for sections 4 and 5

Sections 4 and 5 can be dealt with by a fixed charge notice, €100 for section 4 and €140 for section 5, issued by the garda at the time or afterwards. Pay within the time the notice gives and the matter ends there: no summons, no court, no conviction. The Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016 treats a fixed charge paid in time as not being a conviction at all.

If the notice is not paid a summons follows and the charge is heard in the ordinary way. There is no third payment option for public order notices; that is a road traffic mechanism under the Road Traffic Act 2010.

The Adult Caution Scheme

All five sections are on the Adult Caution Scheme's list. The scheme lets a Garda superintendent give a formal caution instead of a prosecution where the offence is minor, you admit it, and you agree to be cautioned. It is usually offered once. The caution is not a conviction, but the Garda record it, and it can be disclosed in Garda vetting for some roles.

You cannot apply for a caution at court; the decision is the Garda's, before a summons issues or a charge is preferred. If a summons has already arrived the scheme has usually been considered and not offered, though a solicitor can write to the superintendent to ask. The Adult Caution guide covers the conditions.

What the court does with a first offence

Nobody can tell you what the judge will do, and this site does not try. What can be said is what the court's options are and what most first offences of this kind end in.

The court may:

• dismiss the charge under section 1(1) of the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 without recording a conviction, often on condition of a donation to the court poor box or a period of good behaviour (6,243 Probation Act orders in 2025);
• strike the charge out, for example where a donation has been made and the prosecution does not proceed (59,914 strike-outs in 2025, across every kind of summary charge);
• bind you to the peace on a bond, which is not a conviction (792 bonds in 2025; see the peace bond guide);
• convict and fine you within the class, after considering your means, payable by instalments over twelve months on application;
• for sections 6 and 8, impose a suspended or an immediate custodial sentence within the maximum.

What the court weighs is the plea, your record, what the garda says happened, anything you or your solicitor say in mitigation, and, where it asks for one, a probation report. A guilty plea at the first opportunity is something every court takes into account. If you plead not guilty the case is adjourned for a hearing, the garda gives evidence, and you can cross-examine and give your own account; the first appearance guide walks through the day.

The record afterwards

A conviction for any of the five sections is a conviction, and it is recorded on the Garda PULSE system. The 2016 Act treats minor public order convictions in the District Court generously: each can become spent seven years after the effective date where the sentence was a fine, a bond, community service, a suspended sentence or custody of twelve months or less, and they do not count towards the rule that only one conviction can ever be spent. The spent convictions guide sets out the dates.

A Probation Act dismissal, an Adult Caution and a paid fixed charge are not convictions. The Garda still hold a record of each, and a police certificate for a visa discloses everything.

Where this leaves you

A public order charge is rarely the end of the world, but it is a criminal charge, and the section number sets what the court can do. Read the summons or charge sheet, find the section, and check it against the table above. Then use the legal aid check to see how the means and gravity tests apply: sections 6 and 8 carry custody and can meet the gravity test, sections 4, 5 and 9 usually do not.

If you may qualify for legal aid, ask the judge for it at your first appearance; the legal aid page explains the statement of means. If you do not qualify or would rather instruct someone privately, the solicitor page explains how to find one who takes District Court work.