On 10 November 2014, O'Riordan was arrested and charged in connection with air rage on an Aer Lingus flight from JFK to Shannon Airport. During the flight, she grew verbally and physically abusive to the crew. When police were arresting her, she resisted, reminding them that her taxes paid their wages and shouting "I'm the Queen of Limerick! I'm an icon!", headbutting one Garda officer and spitting at another. She allegedly fractured the air hostess's foot during the incident and was medically assessed at University Hospital, escorted by Shannon Police. Following her arrest, O'Riordan spent three weeks in a psychiatric hospital. She later pleaded guilty to the charges. Eileen O'Riordan stated that her daughter was in a fragile mental state and that medical results indicated there was no alcohol or drugs detected in her daughter's system. The judge hearing her case agreed to dismiss all charges if she apologised in writing to her victims and contributed €6,000 ($7,300) to the court poor box. Later, O'Riordan told the media that she had been stressed from living in New York hotels following the end of her 20-year marriage. Her family described Dolores as "strong-minded and determined"; however, discussing her mental instability and her volatile vulnerability in a 2014 interview with the Belfast Telegraph, O'Riordan explained that she "carried quite a burden of pain and torment from her past".
