A teenager who assaulted a man in a suspected homophobic attack that took place in Dublin in 2022 has been charged with incitement to hatred. He has now been sent forward for trial to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

On August 18, 2022, Mark Sheehan, a 26-year-old man, was assaulted by a gang of young men while on a Dublin Bus. Sheehan and his friends were travelling home after a night out in The George when he was targeted in the brutal attack and subjected to homophobic slurs. The assault left Sheehan badly injured and led to his hospitalisation at Tallaght University Hospital.

Following the assault, the Gardaí opened an investigation and a teen was later charged in relation to the homophobic attack. The accused, who cannot be named since he is still a minor, was charged with assault causing harm over the incident and appeared before the Dublin Children’s Court in November 2022, where bail with conditions was set.

The following year, the teenager failed to appear at a preliminary hearing, where the court heard that he had left the country. After he was located in April 2025, the accused was further charged with incitement to hatred in relation to his action during the assault, when he called the victim homophobic slurs.

According to an article by court reporter Tom Suite, the teenager, now 19, recently appeared before the Dublin Children’s Court, where he was served with a book of evidence. Granting a return for trial order, Judge Áine Clancy sent him forward to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, which has greater sentencing powers. The case will be listed for mention on October 17.

The new charges for incitement of hatred brought against the accused stem from Section 2 of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act from 1989, which establishes that an individual can be charged with the offence for using “threatening, abusive or insulting” language that “having regard to all the circumstances, are likely to stir up hatred.”

Activists have been calling for Ireland’s incitement to hatred law to be modernised, saying that the 1989 legislation is not fit for purpose nowadays and has led to few sentences over the years. Plans to introduce new hate speech provisions, including new criminal offences in Irish law to cover incitement of hatred online and on social media, were dropped by the Irish government last year.