Publican attacked by two men calls for more gardaí for Tipperary's largest town

A prominent Clonmel publican has called for more gardaí to be assigned to the town after he was assaulted in the head by two men while working in his bar at night last week.

Richie Gleeson, proprietor of Gleeson’s Pub in Irishtown, said there wasn’t enough Garda manpower available to come to his assistance straight away when he called Clonmel Garda Station during the frightening attack. And he reported it took some time for the Garda patrol car to reach the pub after the incident.

The publican recounted the incident happened around 9.40pm last Thursday, March 6.

Two men entered Gleeson’s in an intoxicated state and were refused service by staff.

“They wouldn’t take no for an answer. I had to intervene and one of the guys banged his fist on the counter so hard it knocked over a pint,” he recalled.

Mr Gleeson told the men to leave and phoned Clonmel Garda Station to inform gardaí that these individuals were in the town and might by causing trouble.

While he was on the phone to the gardaí, he went to the front door of the pub to see what direction the men had walked away.

The duo spotted Mr Gleeson, turned back and attacked him in the doorway.

The publican remembers he shouted into the phone to the gardaí that he was being assaulted.

He was punched and his spectacles were knocked off him while his phone fell to the ground.

He recalls he resisted and pushed them away but they came back at him.

“One of them grabbed me by the ears and started to pull me into the street. As he did that the second guy punched me in the head.”

Mr Gleeson paid tribute to those who came to his aid in a post he published on Facebook on Monday.

“If not for the intervention of my amazing regulars I may have been in a lot of trouble,” he wrote. “Because of their assistance, I managed to escape with a black eye, several bruises and a bad headache for a couple of days”.

He continued: “I had been on the phone to the guards while this attack took place. They did not have the manpower to come to my assistance at that time (9.40pm) and it was quite some time before a Garda car called to see what had happened.

"Luckily, I had my friends to save me but what happens if they’re not there?”

Mr Gleeson told The Nationalist when he informed gardaí on the phone of the assault that night they said the patrol car was out and they would get it to him as soon as they could.

He wasn’t able to gauge how long exactly it took for the patrol car to reach the pub after the incident but he had carried out a quick repair on his damaged front door, the card game had resumed and the two culprits were gone by the time it arrived.

He said the main reason he has highlighted the assault is to raise awareness of the need for Clonmel to get more Garda resources.

He said the shortfall in gardaí in the town has come up in a number of different forums in recent months

“There is more anti-social behaviour and aggression in the town in recent years and married to that is the fact there are so few gardaí covering such a broad area. It’s not acceptable. The town needs more gardaí.”

A Clonmel Garda Station spokesman confirmed gardaí are investigating the assault but didn’t wish to comment on Mr Gleeson’s statements about the delay in the Garda response and the need for more gardaí to be assigned to the town.

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