Ms O’Riordan was ordered to pay €6,000 into the court poor box within the week.
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RTÉ report that she was in court over an air rage incident on board a flight from NY in 2014, where she head-butted and spat at a Garda who was attempting to arrest her, after she had previously spat at two police officers who had tried to escort her off the plane.
The court heard that during her arrest Ms O’Riordan told Gardaí: “I’m an icon, I’m the Queen of Limerick”, and that she headbutted and spat in the face of Garda Shane Dawson.
Her donation to the poor box will go towards the rehabilitation of other prisoners.
O’Riordan said she had one collection planned with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and that she would use “music, dancing, performing” to help her recover from the episode of mental illness.
Speaking outside court after the sentencing, Ms O’Riordan said: “I don’t really have much to say”. “I want to thank the doctors that helped me to get back to my health mentally”.
O’Riordan became a household name fronting Limerick band The Cranberries who went on to sell tens of millions of albums worldwide.
When asked about the stigma over mental illness and whether it was time people spoke and opened up more, Ms O’Riordan replied “of course” and urged people suffering similar problems to “just reach out for help”.
Ms O’Riordan pleaded guilty to resisting/wilfully obstructing Garda Dawson in the execution of his duty contrary to Section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.
The singer has been ordered to give 6,000 euros (£4,690) to charity following a court hearing at Ennis District Court in County Clare today (February 24).
Insp Kennedy said Ms O’Riordan’s behaviour on the day was highly erratic and irrational and that she was very irate.
You can’t arrest me. “I pay my taxes so I pay your wages and I am going to sue”.
The 44-year-old mother of three children had separated from her husband Don Burton in the months before her arrest.
The judge said that because the singer is a public figure, she not only had to deal with any sentence or sanction that the court imposed but also one that the public would impose.
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Solicitor Bill O’Donnell described his client’s actions as those of a “very, very ill person” and he said the offences happened at an extremely hard period in her life.
