Crime « Thurles Information

Arrest Follows Discovery Of Cannabis Grow House In Tipperary.

On Saturday last, May 7th, 2022, a male aged in his 20s was arrested by officers of the Tipperary Drugs Unit, assisted by Anglesea Street, Cork City. Garda Drug Unit.
The arrest, in the Aherlow area, followed the seizure of cannabis plants from a grow house, with an estimated street value of €68,000.

The cannabis plants were discovered following the execution of a search warrant on previously identified property.

The arrested male was subsequently detained and brought before a sitting of Tipperary District Court.

A file is now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Intervention By Gardaí & ISPCA – Plus Sheep Killed By Dogs In Co. Tipperary.

Three dogs have been rescued from a property in Co. Tipperary.
Two of the dogs were being accommodated in a space with limited daylight through a skylight, due to the provided window space area being barricaded with wooden pallets.

Yesterday, ISPCA staff with the assistance of Gardaí from the Community Policing Unit, at Cahir entered the property under warrant, where they discovered three mature dogs living in deplorable filthy, conditions amid strewn about raw meat and other discarded rubbish and with no water available for any of the animals.

All three dogs are now safe in ISPCA care, where they are currently being assessed by a veterinary practitioner.

In a Totally Unrelated Incident.

On Monday April 25th last, just one Tipperary farm lost 27 hoggets (less than one year old yearling sheep) , same killed in a dog attack on his farm in the Knockmealdown mountains in south Co. Tipperary. This recent attack is this farms 10th dog attack since, they began operating their farm some 30 years ago, situated on the border of counties Tipperary and Waterford.

The owner of the sheep, latter a native of Newcastle, Co Tipperary, believes the dog responsible was an Alsatian and the same dog that attacked and killed his neighbour’s sheep back last December, 2021.

Official Opening Of Dublin Airport Garda Station.

The Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD, today attended the official opening of the new Garda station at Dublin Airport.

The station has 48 Garda members and will also provides a new base for the Garda Armed Support Unit, to ensure a high visibility presence at Dublin Airport.

The Minister welcomed the new station saying:

“I am delighted to be here today at the official opening of Dublin Airport Garda Station. The first Garda Station at Dublin Airport, which opened in 1987, was just a single room in the main airport Terminal. This new facility is much more in line with the standards we should expect at a busy international airport and I wish to commend Commissioner Harris and the Gardaí and officials who I know have worked very hard on the Dublin Airport Strategic Plan and the resulting station.

As Minister for Justice, supporting the work of An Garda Síochána is a priority for my Department and this year’s unprecedented budget in excess of €2 billion reflects that commitment. Visibility is key when it comes to effective policing and this new station will help maintain a higher Garda presence here at Dublin Airport.”

The new Dublin Airport Garda Station is situated in the former Transaer building at Dublin Airport, in the Garda Division of DMR North, where it forms part of the ‘H’ District.

The station operates on a 24-hour basis with responsibilities including:

Policing of Airport.
State Security.
Emergency Response to critical incidents.
Public Safety and Reassurance.
Prevention, Investigation and Detection of Crime.
Implementation of the Victims Charter.
Escort of State movements of VIP’s and valuable cargo.
Cooperation and liaison with local stakeholders and our international police colleagues.
Safe custody of Persons detained by Garda National Immigration Bureau and other prisoners.
Roads Policing and Road Traffic Enforcement including the M50 and M1 motorways.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) also operates from the station and immigration detention facilities have been operational at the building from March 1st 2022. This allows for up to four passengers refused leave to land to be detained for up to 24 hours, within the boundary of the airport, thereby enabling their return for outbound flights, without delay. These detention facilities are used solely for immigration detainees.

Government Support For European Depository For Evidence Of War Crimes In Ukraine

Minister for Justice Mrs Helen McEntee yesterday announced Government backing for a centralised European depository for evidence collected of international war crimes in Ukraine.

Minister McEntee will now bring motions before both the Dáil and Seanad this week seeking Oireachtas backing for the move, which will allow Ireland opt-in to the EU wide initiative.

The proposal will make Eurojust, the EU agency responsible for criminal justice co-operation, the central repository for evidence collected of international crimes that have been committed in Ukraine.

It will allow Eurojust collect, preserve and analyse evidence in relation to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and related criminal offences and, when necessary and appropriate, enable its exchange or otherwise make it available to the competent judicial authorities, nationally or internationally.

An Garda Síochána, through the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, have responsibility for the investigation of core international crime and co-operate with EU authorities on such matters.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court have already welcomed the support of EU Member States and the potential initiation of criminal investigations at a national level as this ensures the professional gathering of evidence, much of which may be displaced amongst refugees, which may be relevant to their subsequent prosecutions.

A strategy to identify and collect relevant information and evidence here from Ukrainians who have fled to Ireland is currently under consideration by An Garda Síochána.

Speaking after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Minister McEntee said:

“We have heard appalling reports of activities in Ukraine that may in fact amount to war crime or crimes against humanity.
To investigate and prosecute these crimes, and to ensure that those who committed the crimes are held responsible and brought to justice, evidence needs to be collected and securely stored.
The Government has agreed to my proposal to take part in a crucial initiative which will create a central European repository for such evidence.
This will allow national and international judicial authorities to benefit from the fully-fledged support that Eurojust, the EU criminal justice agency, can provide in the ongoing investigations of core international crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine”.

This proposal will not expand Eurojust’s executive role to that of an investigating authority, which would not be covered by Eurojust’s mandate, but is meant to ensure Eurojust can receive and centrally store the evidence from different sources.

By doing so, Eurojust can support case building work in national and international investigations in a more effective way and provide additional support to the competent prosecution services.

St. Patrick’s Borstal Institution Tipperary.

Jail *(Gaol)* Gate, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.

Recently (April 20th 2022) we here at Thurles.Info featured an article entitled “Official Opening Of New “Horses of Hope” Equine Centre At Castlerea Prison”, which is expected to play an important part in the rehabilitation of prisoners, thus preventing same from reoffending on their eventual release. Read article HERE.

History recalls the setting up of a rather similar type of institution here in Co. Tipperary, same first established back in 1906.

Ireland’s first and indeed only Borstal institution, known as St. Patrick’s Borstal Institution was located in the centre of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, as a place of detention for young male offenders, aged between 16 and 21. Most of whom were detained for offences including larceny, house-breaking, assault, animal theft and a low number of sexual crimes.

This Clonmel borstal institution provided boy inmates with continued support, same affected by the then existing “Borstal Association of Ireland”.
Following on from their release, the aforementioned association provided help and advice in finding employment, with this aftercare proving to be extremely successful, demonstrated by the small numbers of boys relapsing back into crime, following on from their release.

The Clonmel Borstal was first established following the recommendations of the 1895 “Report of the Departmental Committee on Prisons”, latter more generally known as the “Gladstone Committee”.

The institution was modelled on an innovative approach to young-offender reform, then being developed at a similar facility in the town of Borstal near Rochester, Kent, England, then begun in 1901.

This Clonmel, Co. Tipperary institution was designed to be “educational rather than punitive (intended punishment)”, but it was highly regulated, with a focus on routine, discipline and authority during its early years. However, in cases of mutiny or assaulting a prison officer, corporal punishment was officially available in the form of a birch rod, typically applied to the recipient’s bare buttocks, but only with the consent of a magistrate in attendance.

In Clonmel, to establish this borstal it was necessary to acquire all of the old prison grounds, with older or adult prisoners then serving sentences, transferred to other existing prison institutions.

The Prevention of Crime Act 1908 envisaged that youths aged between 16 and 21, who were charged with serious offences could undergo a programme of discipline intended to rehabilitate them, while segregating minors from the influence of adult prisoners.

The average number of inmates at Clonmel Borstal, at any given time, is understood to have been about 50 in number. Only about half of these had been sent directly by a court. The others were transferred by Ministerial order from their ordinary prisons. The regime in Clonmel allowed a level of trust to develop between the staff and detainees. At the discretion of the acting Governor, the boys could be allowed out into the town to seek employment.

The Clonmel borstal was an obvious recruiting ground for the British army. Magistrate Mr Justice Thomas Moloney, while attending the Spring 1919 Court of Assizes in Clonmel, paid tribute to some 424 inmates that he estimated were enlisted to fight. He further claimed that around seventy of these boys had made the “supreme sacrifice”.

In 1922, when the civil war began in Ireland, the institution was commandeered for military purposes and inmate boys were moved to Clogheen workhouse, Co. Tipperary.

By the mid-1950s the numbers of inmates had declined and with fewer coming from Dublin, it was decided to close the facility in Clonmel.
On December 1st 1956, 50 years after its initial foundation, the Irish borstal institution vacated Clonmel for the last time.