Junior Minister Anne Rabbitte has wept in court as she recalled a man throwing a bag of cow dung towards her at a public meeting.

At Gort District Court, Minister Rabbitte said she felt like the most vulnerable person in the room at O’ Sullivans Hotel in Gort last year.

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39 year old farmer Joseph Baldwin of Ballyaneen, Gort denies assaulting Anne Rabbitte on January 4th 2023.

The incident happening during a public meeting on plans for a highly controversial biogas plant on the outskirts of the town.

Recounting the incident, Minister Rabbitte said that she saw a man had flung a bag of contents towards her constituency colleague, Ciaran Cannon.

The CCTV footage showed Mr Baldwin turn and then throw a bag in the direction of Minister Rabbitte – and the court heard from an eye-witness that the bag contained “a green liquid substance”.

Minister Rabbitte recalled that the man “was incredibly angry, his face was red”, and he said to her “‘I am not forgetting about you, there is one for you Rabbitte’.

Solicitor for Mr Baldwin, Daragh Hassett, said that eight eye witnesses present on the night gave statements to Gardai said that the bag thrown by Mr Baldwin did not hit Ms Rabbitte.

Mr Hassett said that Ms Rabbitte had recoiled from her statement to Gardai where she said that the bag hit her on the torso and now says she felt it hit her.

Mr Hassett said: “It is quite clear from the footage that no bag struck you at all.”

Minister Rabbitte said: “I still feel it. You can’t deny me my feelings.”

Mr Hassett told Minister Rabbitte after hearing her evidence that she is “a very unreliable historian” and described her direct evidence as “quite emotive”.

Mr Hassett claimed that her statement to Gardai that she was struck by the bag was “inaccurate and misleading”, when seen alongside the CCTV evidence which shows that the bag did not hit her.

The case continues.

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