Armed gardaí entered wrong house and terrified children in their beds, court told

Armed gardaí broke into and searched the wrong house and then entered the bedroom of three terrified children aged between eight and 14 who had been asleep in their beds, a judge was told.

Barrister Conor Kearney told Judge Fiona O’Sullivan in the Circuit Civil Court that several members of the Garda armed unit entered the children’s bedroom and pointed their guns at a wardrobe before allowing the children downstairs where they were kept with their parents for two hours while their home was searched.

Mr Kearney, who appeared with Chris Horrigan of Blake Horrigan Solicitors, told Judge O’Sullivan that Ruby Maeve O’Reilly Gibbons, now aged 11, and her sisters Molly (10) and Kayleigh (16) had been extremely afraid during the raid.

He said that shortly after the September 2022 incident, all the children had to receive counselling for shock and trauma and their family and social lives had been disrupted.

Mr Kearney said the family, including the…