Man found asleep in bush by Kilkenny City path on Christmas Eve

A jail sentence has been handed down to a man with 46 previous convictions following his conviction on four new public order offences, at Kilkenny District Court.

Declan Foley, 1 Cedar Wood Avenue, Kilkenny, was told by a judge that a community service order would not be a sufficient penalty in the case.

On November 7, 2025, a garda encountered Mr Foley on John Street in Kilkenny. He had his t-shirt off and was asking people to fight with him. He was arrested and taken to Kilkenny Garda Station.

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On December 24, 2025, at 10.10am, Mr Foley was found asleep in a bush alongside Canal Walk. He was highly intoxicated and arrested for his own safety.

He became verbally abusive to gardaí while being escorted into the garda van.

Mr Foley was charged with two counts of being intoxicated in public and two counts of using threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour.

Solicitor Chris Hogan said his client unfortunately had a significant difficulty with alcohol. Having attended treatment he was sober for a time, but relapsed in recent years.

Mr Foley has a good work history but is not working at the moment, the solicitor told the court. He is engaging with support services in Kilkenny and his doctor is trying to get him a place in residential treatment.

Mr Hogan apologised to the court on his client’s behalf. He said Mr Foley was prepared to undertake a community service order.
There were 46 previous convictions recorded against the defendant.

Judge Geraldine Carthy said a community service order would not be sufficient in this case. She imposed a two month prison sentence on one of the four charges, with the other three taken into consideration.