Woman faces trial for alleged Áras calls

Court hears of litany of obscene calls to Oireachtas and Áras

A 57-year-old Dublin woman is to stand trial accused of a litany of obscene phone calls to Áras an Uachtaráin and the Dáil.

Anne Fennell, of Monastery Gate Green, Clondalkin, has been granted bail by Dublin District Court while prosecutors prepare a book of evidence.

She has been warned she cannot contact members of the Oireacthas or Áras an Uachtaráin.

The defendant faces 22 charges under the Post Office Act for making grossly offensive phone calls or persistently sending telephone messages that were false and for the purpose of causing annoyance, over a 20-month period.

State solicitor Tom Conlon told Judge Michael Walsh the DPP has directed that Ms Fennell must face trial on indictment. This means her case will be dealt with at the circuit court, which has tougher sentencing powers.

Six garda detectives based in Dublin and Tipperary stations told the court that Ms Fennell made no reply when she was charged.

No plea was entered at the hearing and she was remanded on bail to appear again at the district court on May 29 when it is expected she will be served with the book of evidence.

Judge Walsh imposed bail conditions stating she must sign on twice a week at her local station and provide gardaí with a contact number.

Garda Amy Kelly, of Pearse Street station, who has charged Ms Fennell with three of the alleged offences, asked the court for a condition stating Ms Fennell must have “no contact with Dáil Éireann of members of Dáil Éireann”.

The judge agreed, ordering the accused not to contact any member of the Oireacthas or Áras an Uachtaráin.

Ms Fennell is alleged to have made an indecent, grossly offensive, and obscene call to the Dáil on November 18, 2014, and a nuisance call to a named person there on the following day.

Ms Fennell, who did not address the court, is also accused of making nine obscene calls to Áras an Uachtaráin on dates in April, October, and November last year.

It is alleged that three of the calls were made to the President’s official residence, on April 8 last year, and two the previous day.

She is accused of making calls with false messages to cause annoyance to the Department of Finance, and the European Commission offices in Dublin.

Other charges involve claims of nuisance phone messages to four people at locations in Nenagh and Templemore in Tipperary.

The remaining counts relate to calls allegedly sent to named people or locations in Dublin: Bishop Square in the city centre; Philipsburg Avenue in Marino, and an An Post office at Oak Rd in Dublin 12. The incidents are alleged to have occurred between March 2013 and November the following year.