Law « Thurles Information

Government Announces 2 Tipperary Projects Funded Under 2025 Integration Fund.

Government announces 117 projects to be funded under the 2025 Integration Fund.
€3.6 million will be made available to 117 not-for-profit, civil society and community-based organisations for integration based projects.
Grants of up to €100,000 will be allocated to successful organisations to assist in the integration of migrants.

The Irish government announced the names of 117 community-based projects set to receive €3,612,974 in funding under the 2025 Integration Fund. The Fund helps enable community organisations across Ireland to play a greater role in promoting the integration of migrants.

The Integration Fund combines the two funds previously known as the International Protection Integration Fund and the Communities Integration Fund. Since their inception, both funds have provided close to €10m in funding to over 1,000 projects across the country.

Scheme A was open to projects that specifically promote the integration of International Protection Applicants; while Scheme B was open to smaller scale projects that promote the integration of any migrant group. All applications have been assessed against the selection criteria set out in the funding call guidelines.

Of the 2025 Integration Fund Successful Projects, Tipperary benefitted from only two grants, namely:-

Scheme A

Organisation Name.	Project Name.	Amount.	County.
Silver Arch Family Resource Centre.	Unity Youth Hub.	€94,874.	Tipperary.
South Tipperary Development Company.	Bridging Language for Employment.	€38,900.	Tipperary.

Also under Scheme A the other organisations who benefited included:- one in Cavan; two in Cork; three in Donegal; twenty three in Dublin; four in Galway; one in Kerry; one in Kilkenny; two in Limerick; one in Louth; three in Mayo; two in Meath; one in Sligo; one in Westmeath and one in Wexford.

Scheme B

Under Scheme B the other organisations who benefited included:- one in Carlow; two in Clare; five in Cork; four in Donegal and six in Dublin

This level of funding has been made available in 2025 as a targeted measure and parity funding may not be available in future editions of the fund.

Significant Cannabis Seizure At Shannon Airport.

An operation involving officers from Revenue Commissioners Customs and An Garda Síochána has resulted in the seizure of approximately 30 kg of herbal cannabis, with a market value of approximately €600,000, at Shannon Airport in County Clare.

A male in his 20s has now been arrested and is currently detained at a Garda station in the Clare/Tipperary division, under the provisions of Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996.

The seized cannabis will be forwarded to Forensic Science Ireland for further analysis. Investigations remain ongoing at this time.

Members of the public or businesses with information relevant to this investigation are encouraged to contact the Revenue Commissioners confidentially on Tel: 1800 295 295 or to engage with An Garda Síochána as appropriate.

Irish Government Announce Approval To Progress Operation Encompass.

Operation Encompass is an early intervention strategy which aims to provide immediate support for children impacted by domestic violence.
It involves An Garda Síochána notifying the school where the child attends that there was a domestic violence incident in the home, so that a teacher can provide care and support.
Measures on information sharing included in the General Scheme of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025.

Government announce approval for the drafting of legislation which will allow for information sharing between An Garda Síochána and schools in order to strengthen protection for children impacted by violence in the home.

The General Scheme of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025 includes measures to allow Gardai to inform a designated person in a school that a domestic violence incident has occurred in a pupil’s home, similar to the Operation Encompass early intervention strategy already in place in Northern Ireland.

It has been established to ensure a child’s school will be informed at the appropriate time that a domestic violence incident has occurred in the home of the child. The school is made aware so that the child can receive additional support in their care and learning following the incident.

Teachers are not expected to take any action, other than being sensitive to the fact that the child may have witnessed a distressing incident of domestic abuse. The discreet support will be based on the needs and wishes of the child. An Garda Síochána will only be allowed to share with the school that a domestic violence incident occurred in the household. No other details will be provided.

Under Zero Tolerance, the Third National Strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, there is an action to scope and develop an operational framework to introduce a scheme along the lines of Operation Encompass in the Irish system in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders.

Government officials are working closely with their counterparts in Northern Ireland to draw on experiences and learnings to inform the operationalist of Operation Encompass here.

Ongoing scoping work around implementation of the scheme will include a cross-border learning event to draw on insights and experiences from the implementation of Operation Encompass in Northern Ireland, which commenced via a pilot programme in September 2021, informing a broader roll out to covering all schools in the North. Key stakeholders from both sides of the border will be invited to attend and engage in this event.

Tipperary Man Jailed For Cocaine Smuggling Offence.

Tipperary Man Sentenced to Seven Years for Attempting to Import Cocaine Worth Over €1 Million

An Garda Síochána has welcomed the sentencing today of a Tipperary man to seven years’ imprisonment for his role in attempting to import cocaine worth in excess of €1 million into the Irish State.

Details of the Case.
On October 10th 2022, as part of an intelligence-led operation, Gardaí conducted a detailed search of a camper van which had docked at Dublin Port. The vehicle, driven by Mr John Joseph Carey (57 years) of Rathanny, Golflinks Road, Tipperary Town, was found to contain 16.6 kilograms of cocaine concealed within a Perspex box built into the frame of the camper vehicle.

Mr Carey was subsequently arrested and charged with possession of cocaine for sale or supply, contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. He pleaded guilty before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, where he was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.

Admissions and Circumstances.
During interview, Mr Carey accepted responsibility for the offence. He informed investigating Gardaí that he had agreed to transport the drugs after coming under significant financial pressure. Mr Carey explained that he had borrowed €100,000 from so-called “travelling people” to assist in his landscaping business, but that the debt had risen to approximately €250,000. He stated that he had been tracked down and persuaded to participate in the smuggling operation, as a means of repaying the debt.

Garda Response.
Detective Garda Mr Damien O’Neill, who led the investigation, said the operation demonstrated the continued vigilance of Garda personnel working to prevent the importation of controlled drugs into Ireland.

An Garda Síochána remains fully committed to identifying and targeting those involved in the supply and distribution of illegal drugs. The outcome in this case reflects the effectiveness of ongoing co-operation between Gardaí and Customs Authorities, in disrupting organised criminal activity.

Criminal Assets Bureau Annual Report For 2024 Published.

Over €17m diverted from criminals to the Irish exchequer.

The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is a multi-agency statutory body established under the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996. The Bureau’s remit is to target a person’s assets, wherever situated, which derive, or are suspected to derive, directly or indirectly, from criminal conduct. Since its inception, the Bureau has been at the forefront of fighting organised crime in this jurisdiction and disrupting the activities of criminal gangs by depriving them of ill-gotten assets.

The Bureau has staff drawn from An Garda Síochána, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners (including Customs), the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Justice.

The latest Annual Report from the Bureau has now been published for 2024, showing €17.052 million was returned to the Irish Exchequer, due to their activities.

The Bureau sold twenty forfeited properties by 2024; the highest number sold in any one year. One of these properties was sold for €931,000, one of the highest sales prices ever achieved for any one asset.

An updated Proceeds of Crime Bill is now understood to be making its way through the Oireachtas currently and if implemented same is expected to strengthen the State’s ability to further identify, freeze, and confiscate assets linked to serious and organised crime. Once passed into law, the Criminal Assets Bureau should have stronger investigative powers and will be able to dispose of assets much more quickly than is currently the case.

Some of the Bureau’s other key achievements of the year included:

46 search operations conducted, consisting of 227 individual searches in 13 counties.
21 new cases commenced under the Proceeds of Crime Act during 2024.
Submission of 30 new Proceeds of Crime files to the Criminal Asset Section of the Chief State Solicitor’s Office for progression through the courts.
The Bureau held its second publicly advertised online auction which received global interest, realising in excess of €216k.

Yet one must be forgiven for asking, is this simply yet another tax generated on the hard pressed, ordinary Irish household?

Let us think for a moment:-

(1) Crimes in question are rightly identified by Criminal Assets Bureau.
(2) Proceeds amounting to €17.052 million are now returned to the Irish Exchequer.
Question: What fraction of this significant sum will actually be channelled back into local rural communities, where the crime identified first originated?
Note: Every time a drug seizure is made, criminals take to rural Ireland to steal/plunder, often by force, valuables, goods etc, from the residents in towns and villages, to the benefit of the Irish Exchequer.

“Surely this amounts to a tax in another name”.

We wait to see how much of this €17.052 million, will be returned to Irish local communities.