Man pleads guilty to hoax fire call to Mayo emergency services

A hoax call led to over 20 emergency service personnel attending at the scene of a falsely reported house fire in Foxford.

Michael McDonagh, age 45, 16 Woodlands, Balla, pleaded guilty at Ballina District Court to making a hoax call to the emergency services.

On August 12, 2024, at 9.10 p.m., McDonagh made a call to the emergency services reporting a house fire at a premises on the Castlebar Road, Foxford.

He said there was a red van parked outside the house and an elderly lady was standing next to the van. McDonagh gave his name as ‘Peter Mullin’ to the operator.

A total of 18 firefighters, four paramedics and two gardaí attended the call.

When the gardaí arrived at the scene, they spoke to the fire officer who said no fire was taking place. An elderly lady was observed inside the house, asleep in bed.

Using the emergency services phone records and a forensic examination of McDonagh’s phone, he was identified as the person who had made the hoax call.

McDonagh had 32 previous convictions.

Solicitor Mr. Peter Loftus asked Judge Sandra Murphy to order a probation report to assist sentencing his client.

Judge Murphy agreed to this and said this was a serious offence as the hoax call had the potential to divert emergency services away from a genuine emergency.

“These services could have been needed in a genuine case,” she said.

Judge Murphy ordered a probation report and asked the gardaí to give an estimate of the cost of the emergency services call-out that arose from the hoax call.

The matter was adjourned until March 10.

* Published under the Courts Reporting Scheme.