A MAN WAS arrested after assaulting a garda on a plane that was on the tarmac at Dublin Airport this morning.

Gardaí used pepper spray to try to stop the assault, which happened after gardaí boarded the flight to deal with a report of a disruptive passenger.

The injured garda is being treated at Beaumont Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

The passenger, who is in his 40s, was on a United Airlines flight that had travelled from Newark Airport in New Jersey to Dublin Airport.

The captain and crew of the flight had reported a disruptive passenger and requested the assistance of gardaí. 

After the flight landed, gardaí from the Dublin Airport garda station boarded the plane and “attempted to engage with the disruptive male passenger onboard”, a garda statement said.

The man “proceeded to viciously assault a member of An Garda Síochána”.

“O.C. spray was deployed in an attempt to stop the sustained assault of a garda,” the statement said. O.C. stands for Oleoresin Capsicum and is better known by its colloquial name, pepper spray.

The man fled the aircraft after the incident but was arrested a short time later.

He has since been charged with assault and offences under the Air Navigation and Transport Act 2022.

He was due to appear in Dublin District court this afternoon.