A woman who broke a Mountjoy Prison officer's jaw has been jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
She also received a four-year sentence for selling drugs outside a treatment centre.
Linda Dunne (29), Carnlough Road, Cabra, Dublin, a single mother of three, pleaded guilty more than a year ago to recklessly assaulting a prison officer, Ms Helena Considine, in Mountjoy Jail on October 9th, 1999.
This case has been before the court many times since she pleaded guilty.
She has also admitted selling heroin on January 3rd and January 15th, 2002, outside the drug treatment centre in Pearse Street.
Judge Frank O'Donnell suspended the final year of the three-year sentence but refused to suspend any part of the four-year sentence. He said he thought that the four months Dunne has already spent in custody must be taken into account so he backdated the sentences and directed they run concurrently.
Judge O'Donnell said Dunne was a danger to society while she was on drugs and had been before him many times. He said he had heard no expression of remorse from her and must mark the seriousness of her offences.
He said Dunne was a young mother who had been given many chances but she must come to terms with her addiction.
He added that Dunne had been doing well in a treatment programme where she had a good attendance record until October last year but then had tested positive for opiates. When she did not turn up for her methadone in January, the programme organisers became concerned and felt they could no longer continue to work with her.
Dunne punched Ms Considine under the chin while being escorted back to the main buildings of Mountjoy after being allowed to visit her family.
Ms Considine was hospitalised and put on a liquid diet for three weeks. She was off work for 90 days and obtained a job transfer because she could not work in the same prison afterwards.