Pre-deceased by his beloved parents, Jackie and Peggy, and nephew Jason; Mr Rochford sadly passed away following a long illness, most bravely borne, while in the care of staff at Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel, surrounded by his loving family.
His passing is most deeply regretted, sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his sorrowing family; loving sisters, Joan and Mary, brothers, Tommy and Paddy, brother-in-law Thomas (Hamilton), sisters-in-law Breda and Yvonne, nephews, John, Darren, Seán, Daniel and Adrian, nieces, Margaret, Noelle, Aishling, Denise and Gráinne, grandnieces, grandnephews; extended relatives, neighbours and a wide circle of friends.
For those persons who would wish to attend Requiem Mass for Mr Rochford, but for reasons cannot, same can be viewed streamed live online, HERE.
The extended Rochford family wish to express their appreciation for your understanding at this difficult time, and have made arrangements for those persons wishing to send messages of condolence, to use the link shown HERE.
“The Rochford family wish to express their sincere gratitude to all those who cared for John throughout his illness, and to everyone who has shown such kindness, support and sympathy during this difficult time. Your thoughtfulness is deeply appreciated.“
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today reported that Environmental Health Officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE) and officers in the Food Safety Authority (FSAI) served 13 Closure Orders and one Prohibition Order on food businesses during the month of June for breaches of food safety legislation, pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998 and the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020.
Eight Closure Orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on:
Navan Asian Store(Closed activities: butcher counter and area including coldroom)(Butcher Shop), 4 Metges lane, Navan, Meath. Meat Stall Vehicle registration 172-C-2476 (Retailer), trading at Balbriggan Market, County Dublin. M&M Meat (Retailer), trading at Balbriggan Market, County Dublin. Foodstall – Vehicle registration 222-D-9510 (Retailer), trading at Balbriggan Market, Balbriggan, County Dublin. Branza Foodstall – Vehicle registration 131-D-40171 (Retailer), trading at Balbriggan Market, County Dublin. The establishment, trading as Liviu Lacatus, Coolnacon, Clonroche, Wexford. The establishment, trading as Adina Fusteac, Coolnacon, Clonroche, Wexford. Premises occupied by Aleksej Kardasev, warehouse at Shercock Road (Retailer), Carrickmacross, Monaghan.
Five Closure Orders were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020 on:
RAHA Indian Cuisine(Closed activities: The preparation and sale of ready-to-heat meals and onion bhajis to other food businesses) (Restaurant/Café), 32 Park Street, Dundalk, Louth Esquires Coffee(Closed activity: Closure of any activity requiring the storage of ready to eat high risk perishable foods) (Restaurant/Café), Unit 1F, Navan Town Centre, Kennedy Road, Navan, Meath Atlantic Chinese Restaurant, East End Ballybunion, Kerry Al Huda Grocery(Wholesaler/Distributor), 72A Summerhill, Dublin 1 Asian Delights(Take Away), Dublin Industrial Estate, 106 Lagan Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11
One Prohibition Order was served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on:
Meat Stall, Vehicle registration 172-C-2476 (Retailer), trading at Balbriggan Market, County Dublin.
Among the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in June are: failure to notify the competent authority of the establishment of a food business; evidence of a pest infestation in food preparation areas, including live cockroaches, slugs, spiders and woodlice; evidence of rodent activity, including rodent droppings on shelving used to store food and on food packaging and food contact equipment; absence of suitable hand washing facilities; food not protected from the risk of contamination; absence of basic cleaning including chopping boards black with mould, cooking equipment congealed with heavy black grease and food debris; plastic wall sheeting placed around a premises including in the food rooms and the staff toilet to act as doorways; unsuitable layout and design of a premises preventing hygienic food preparation, with no designated food preparation areas; food stored at incorrect temperatures; lack of effective food traceability system in place; food worker wearing an unclean uniform that was heavily stained and covered in old food debris.
Commenting today, Mr Greg Dempsey, Chief Executive, FSAI, said: “It is unacceptable that we continue to see enforcement action being required due to basic and repeated breaches of food safety standards. Effective food safety management systems, proper hygiene practices, pest control and staff training are fundamental legal obligations of every food business. Consumers have a right to safe food, and it is the legal responsibility of food businesses to ensure that food is produced, handled and served safely. It is also concerning that, we have found instances of unregistered food businesses, operating illegally without notifying the competent authority, therefore bypassing essential food safety controls and putting consumers health at risk. Food law requires all food businesses to be notified to the relevant competent authority irrespective of the size or type of food business. This requirement ensures that food businesses will be registered and/or approved with the appropriate inspection agency to ensure food safety and protect consumer health,” added Mr Dempsey.
Details of the food businesses served with Enforcement Orders are published on the FSAI’s website. Closure Orders and Improvement Orders will remain listed in the enforcement reports on the website for a period of three months from the date of when a premises is adjudged to have corrected its food safety issue, with Prohibition Orders being listed for a period of one month.
Sam Neill remembered – From Omagh to Hollywood, with a memorable Tipperary visit.
Sir Sam Neill, the acclaimed actor whose career moved effortlessly between Hollywood blockbusters, unsettling psychological dramas and warm-hearted comedies, has died at the age of 78. His family said that Mr Neill died in Sydney on Monday, July 13th 2026, surrounded by loved ones. His death was described as sudden and unexpected. Although he had previously been treated for a rare form of blood cancer, his family confirmed that he remained cancer-free at the time of his passing.
For millions of cinema-goers, Neill will always be Dr Alan Grant, the practical and quietly courageous palaeontologist who found himself pursued by dinosaurs in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Released in 1993, the film transformed Neill into an international star. He later returned to the role in ‘Jurassic Park III‘ and ‘Jurassic World Dominion‘, introducing the character to new generations of viewers. However, concentrating solely on dinosaurs would overlook the remarkable range of an acting career that lasted for more than five decades.
The Late Sam Neill – In ár gcroíthe go deo.
Mr Neill could be charming, threatening, romantic, vulnerable or wonderfully dry. He appeared opposite Meryl Streep in ‘A Cry in the Dark‘; playing a Soviet submarine officer in ‘The Hunt for Red October’ and delivered one of his most disturbing performances in the cult horror film ‘Possession’. In the same year that Jurassic Park reached cinemas; Mr Neill appeared in Jane Campion’s ‘The Piano’. He later earned another generation of admirers through ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’, directed by fellow New Zealander Mr Taika Waititi. His television work was equally memorable. In ‘Peaky Blinders’, he played the ruthless Major Chester Campbell, a Belfast police officer, determined to destroy Tommy Shelby and his criminal organisation.
Mr Neill was born Nigel John Dermot Neill, in Omagh, County Tyrone, in 1947. His father, a New Zealander serving with the British Army, was stationed in Northern Ireland at the time. The family later lived in County Armagh before moving to New Zealand when Sam was seven. Although New Zealand became his home and the foundation of his professional life, Neill retained a strong affection for Ireland. He held an Irish passport and spoke warmly about the country’s literature, history and culture. He once described himself as quietly proud of his Irish connections, while rejecting the exaggerated stereotypes often associated with Irish-ness.
Was There a Tipperary Connection? There was, nevertheless, a real and memorable Tipperary connection. In November 2012, Mr Neill travelled to Cork and to Co. Tipperary to promote wines from ‘Two Paddocks‘, the vineyard he established in Central Otago, New Zealand. During the visit, he discussed his Irish identity, his love of wine and his preference for an ordinary life away from the excesses of celebrity. Wine was far more than a commercial sideline for Mr Neill. He took enormous pride in his vineyard, its Pinot Noir and the animals living on the property. ‘Two Paddocks’ offered him a retreat from filming and a connection with the land that appeared to matter deeply to him.
His visit to Tipperary may have been brief, but it provides the county with its own small place in the story of an actor whose life stretched from Northern Ireland to New Zealand, Australia and the great film studios of the world. Mr Neill became internationally famous relatively late. By the arrival of Jurassic Park, he had already spent years building a respected career in New Zealand, Australia and Britain. That experience gave his performances a grounded quality. Even when surrounded by computer-generated dinosaurs, supernatural forces or larger-than-life characters, he rarely appeared overwhelmed by the spectacle. He remained believable, restrained and entirely human.
Following his death, New Zealand Prime Minister Mr Christopher Luxon described Mr Neill as “one of the greats” and credited him with helping bring New Zealand stories and film-making talent to international audiences. That is perhaps the most fitting way to remember him. Mr Sam Neill was the star of one of the biggest films ever made, but he was never defined by a single role. He was an Irish-born New Zealander, an actor, writer, farmer and winemaker, whose curiosity and understated humour remained evident throughout his life.
Tipperary sadly cannot claim him as one of its own, but it can recall the occasion when one of cinema’s most distinctive gentlemen came to this county, raised a glass and spoke proudly of his enduring Irish connection.
Justice Minister Mr Jim O’Callaghan must surely deserve full support for refusing to abandon the Government’s new criminal legal aid payment system, simply because it has encountered organised opposition.
This reform replaces the previous payment-per-appearance arrangement with a flat fee of €520 for representing one accused person from the beginning to the conclusion of a District Court case. Under the former model, solicitors received €239.38 for an initial appearance and €59.86 for each subsequent hearing.
The minister’s central argument is reasonable; a public payment system should not financially reward cases for remaining before the courts longer than necessary. That does not mean solicitors deliberately seek adjournments. Court delays arise for many legitimate reasons, including difficulties with evidence, prosecution readiness and overcrowded lists. Nevertheless, the State is entitled to remove a fee structure that links additional payments directly to additional appearances.
The Department of Justice says the reform is intended to improve efficiency by paying one fee from the beginning to the end of a case. It also forms part of a wider Government commitment to restore and reform criminal legal aid fees.
Mr O’Callaghan has already demonstrated a willingness to compromise. The original proposed fee of €455 was increased to €520 before the new system took effect. This was a substantial movement by the minister and should be recognised by those accusing him of refusing to engage.
Ireland’s former criminal legal aid system, which paid solicitors an initial fee followed by another payment for each subsequent District Court appearance, differed from the more structured approach used in much of Europe. England and Wales generally use standard fees for categories and stages of lower-court work, Scotland combines fixed payments with scheduled and supplementary fees, while Germany regulates lawyers’ remuneration through statutory fee frameworks. Ireland’s new €520 payment for representation from the beginning to the end of a District Court case therefore brings the country closer to the European preference for case-based or fixed remuneration and removes the direct link between State payments and repeated adjournments. However, many European systems also provide supplements or separate assessment for unusually complex or demanding cases, suggesting Ireland should retain the reform while allowing additional payments in genuinely exceptional circumstances.
The concerns raised by solicitors should, of course, be taken seriously. The Law Society argues that a single payment may not adequately reflect cases involving numerous hearings or exceptional complexity. Its survey also indicated that many practitioners feared the model would make criminal legal aid work financially unattractive. Those concerns justify continued monitoring and carefully targeted adjustments. They do not justify immediately reversing a reform before there has been sufficient time to assess its operation.
Withdrawing from legal aid panels and disrupting court business risks placing defendants, victims and the wider justice system under additional pressure. Public policy cannot be decided by whichever professional group can create the greatest disruption.
Mr O’Callaghan must be seen as therefore correct to keep the regulations in place while reviewing their impact. If unusually long or complicated cases require supplementary payments, sensible exceptions can be introduced.
But the basic principle remains sound;taxpayers should fund fair legal representation, not an outdated payment structure that can increase costs as cases are repeatedly adjourned. The minister is right to pursue greater efficiency and right not to surrender reform in response to political pressure.
Sinn Féin’s Housing Record: Opposition, Alternatives and the Charge of NIMBYism, (“Not In My Backyard”).
Ireland’s housing crisis has produced no shortage of political outrage. Sinn Féin has been among the loudest voices condemning missed targets, unaffordable rents and the chronic shortage of homes. But a party that presents itself as the answer to the housing emergency must be judged not only by what it promises nationally, but by what its representatives do when actual developments are proposed locally. That is why Mrs Mary Lou McDonald’s latest planning appeal matters.
The Sinn Féin president and Dublin Central TD has joined local party councillor Seamus McGratten in appealing permission for a 249-bed student-accommodation development on the former Matt’s of Cabra pub site, at Fassaugh Avenue in Dublin 7. An Coimisiún Pleanála’s official record confirms the appeal, which was lodged in June 2026. A decision is due by October 6.
Mrs McDonald argues that the land should instead be used for social and affordable housing. She has raised concerns about height, overlooking, traffic, parking, drainage, road safety and pressure on local services. Any one of those concerns may sound reasonable when considered in isolation. Almost every substantial urban development creates some local inconvenience or planning trade-off. The problem is that Ireland can no longer pretend those trade-offs do not exist. We cannot demand tens of thousands of additional homes and student beds while insisting that every development must create no traffic, cast no shadow, inconvenience no neighbour, alter no streetscape and place no pressure on existing services. That is not a housing policy. It is a formula for building almost nothing.
The Cabra scheme is particularly revealing because this is not the first time Mrs McDonald has opposed a major residential proposal on the same site. An earlier application sought permission for 117 build-to-rent apartments. That proposal also faced opposition from the Sinn Féin leader. The political message is difficult to ignore: apartments were unsuitable, and now student accommodation is unsuitable too. Social and affordable housing is presented as the preferred alternative, but no equivalent 249-unit public-housing project is currently being delivered on the site.
It is always easier to endorse the ideal development that does not yet exist than to accept the imperfect one that is ready to proceed. Mrs McDonald’s suggestion that student accommodation should instead be built at Grangegorman, illustrates the familiar politics of displacement: housing is necessary, but “somewhere else.” would be better. Every constituency has a “somewhere else.” Taken together, those arguments are one reason Ireland finds itself trapped in endless cycles of objections, appeals, redesigns and delays.
Dedicated student accommodation is also not unrelated to the wider housing crisis. Students who cannot secure purpose-built rooms compete for houses and apartments in the private rental market. Blocking student beds does not eliminate demand; it pushes that demand back into neighbourhoods already struggling with high rents and limited supply.
The Cabra controversy would be less damaging for Sinn Féin if it were an isolated case. It is not. Sinn Féin representatives have opposed, appealed, challenged or voted against numerous housing-related developments. Fine Gael has claimed that the party objected to, voted against or attempted to hinder 11,687 homes in Dublin between 2018 and 2023, later increasing its claimed total to more than 12,000. Those figures come from a political opponent and should not be accepted uncritically. The totals combine formal objections with council votes, rezoning disputes, legal actions and opposition to particular development or land-transfer models.
A detailed Journal FactCheck found that an earlier claim that Sinn Féin had objected to approximately 6,000 homes was misleading because many of the cases concerned affordability, public-land disposal or tenure rather than straightforward opposition to construction. That qualification is important,but it is not a complete defence. Sinn Féin frequently says it supports building on a site but opposes the proposed mix of private, affordable and social homes. It says public land should remain public and that developments should contain more genuinely affordable housing. Those are legitimate ideological positions. However, rejecting developments because they do not conform to Sinn Féin’s preferred model still has consequences. A home delayed by a dispute over tenure remains a home unavailable to a family. A project voted down because it includes private housing does not shelter anyone while politicians debate the perfect ownership structure.
Some cases involved more direct opposition. At Kilbride Lodge in Bray, two Sinn Féin councillors voted against 18 social-housing apartments. In Knocklyon, two party councillors opposed 27 social homes proposed on football pitches, although three other Sinn Féin councillors supported the development. At Fosterstown North in Swords, Sinn Féin councillors backed legal action concerning a 278-home scheme, citing density, height and school-capacity concerns.
Oscar Traynor Road, O’Devaney Gardens, Ballymastone, Killinarden and Kilcarbery, here Sinn Féin also opposed development arrangements involving hundreds of homes. The party’s position was generally that the public land involved should deliver more social and affordable housing rather than being developed under private or mixed-tenure models.
Yet this exposes the central contradiction in Sinn Féin’s approach. The party wants to be judged on the housing system it imagines, while dismissing criticism of the developments its representatives actually oppose. It promises dramatic increases in supply, but too often treats individual projects as optional whenever the location, height, tenure or design becomes politically uncomfortable. In the 2024 general-election campaign, Sinn Féin promised 300,000 homes over five years, including 125,000 social, affordable-purchase and affordable-rental homes. Such ambition requires difficult choices. It requires accepting apartments, density, construction disruption, mixed-tenure developments and buildings taller than many existing neighbours would prefer. It requires political leaders to tell communities that additional housing cannot always be built without changing their surroundings.
The real test of a housing party is not whether it supports housing in theory. Every party supports housing in theory. The test is whether it supports enough real developments, in real communities, to match its promises. Sinn Féin is entitled to challenge poor planning and demand better affordability. But when its representatives repeatedly oppose concrete proposals, while insisting that a different development, would be preferable, scepticism is justified.
Ireland does not need another party that promises abundance nationally and practises obstruction locally. Until Sinn Féin reconciles those two positions, its housing rhetoric will continue to look less like a credible delivery plan and more like political opportunism; blame the Government for every shortage, promise a perfect alternative, and object when construction reaches your own doorstep.
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