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Two men have been remanded in custody following an alleged attack on a 65-year-old woman in Littleton, Thurles, County Tipperary.
Mr Jim Bob Keane, aged 27 years, of Derrynaflan Avenue, Littleton, Thurles, and Mr Caylum Meaney, aged 24 years, with an address at McDonagh Terrace, Littleton, Thurles appeared before a special sitting of Fermoy District Court on Tuesday last, August 18th 2026.
Both men are charged with assault causing harm and producing an offensive weapon, namely a pickaxe, during a dispute. They were arrested after Gardaí responded to an incident in Littleton, some 5 miles from Thurles, on Sunday evening last, August 16th.
Garda Mr James Maher told the court that petrol was allegedly poured over the head, face and back of Ms Kathleen Crowe, while she was being restrained. Ms Crowe reportedly heard a lighter clicking behind her and feared she was about to be set alight.
The court heard that a green cigarette lighter was found in Mr Keane’s hand when he was arrested. A pickaxe was also recovered at the scene.
Mr Meaney made no reply when arrested and cautioned, while Mr Keane denied having a pickaxe in his hand.
An off-duty Garda officer, who attended the incident was allegedly threatened, together with his 13-year-old son. The court was told that threats were also made to burn the Garda’s family out of their home. The family reportedly felt unable to remain in their accommodation that night because of these threats.
Inspector Mr James White opposed bail, telling the court that further charges were expected. He said both defendants had been on bail in connection with separate, unrelated matters, when the alleged Littleton incident occurred.
The inspector expressed concern about possible further offending, a recurrence of the dispute and the potential intimidation of witnesses.
Defence solicitor Mr Joseph McMahon highlighted what he described as discrepancies between witness accounts and asked the court to release the two men under strict bail conditions.
Judge Ms Catherine Ryan refused bail and remanded both defendants in custody. They are due to appear again before Nenagh District Court on tomorrow Friday, August 21st.
An Garda Síochána is inviting the public to have its say on proposed rules governing Garda access to live CCTV feeds operated by businesses, organisations and private individuals.
Third-party live CCTV feeds allow Garda personnel to view footage from camera systems that are not owned or operated by An Garda Síochána. Such systems are already widely used across Ireland, and demand for Garda access has increased in response to drug-related crime, vehicle and property offences, and public-order incidents.
The Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Act 2023 provides the legal framework for processing third-party CCTV through a live feed. It also requires the introduction of a Code of Practice containing more detailed rules and safeguards for its operation.
The proposed Code is intended to clarify when live access may be used, how it should be authorised and managed, and what protections should apply to members of the public.
As part of this consultation, the Garda Commissioner must also seek the views of several public bodies, including the Data Protection Commission, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Policing and Community Safety Authority and Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman.
According to the official Garda consultation page, a Human Rights Impact Assessment has already been conducted. A Data Protection Impact Assessment will also be completed before the Code can be considered by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.
Potential benefits
Live CCTV access could help Gardaí respond more quickly to crimes and public-safety incidents. Officers may be able to follow a developing situation, identify suspects or vehicles and direct resources to the right location without waiting for recorded footage to be retrieved.
It could also support the investigation and prosecution of offences by helping Gardaí establish timelines, identify witnesses and preserve relevant evidence. In busy public areas, live feeds may assist with crowd safety, missing-person searches and serious public-order incidents.
A clear national Code of Practice could also produce greater consistency. Garda personnel, CCTV operators and members of the public would have a clearer understanding of when access is permitted and what safeguards must be followed.
Potential concerns
The main concern is privacy. People captured on CCTV may not be suspected of any offence, yet their movements and behaviour could still be observed by Garda personnel. Live access is potentially more intrusive than requesting recorded footage after a specific incident.
There is also a risk of “function creep”, where a system introduced for serious or clearly defined policing purposes gradually becomes used more routinely or for broader forms of monitoring.
Security and accountability must therefore be central to the final Code. It should clearly address who may access a feed, the circumstances in which access is allowed, how decisions are recorded and reviewed, and what happens if the system is misused.
Other important questions include how long information may be retained, whether individuals will be informed that a system can be accessed by Gardaí, and how private operators will be required to protect footage from unauthorised access or cyberattack.
Conclusion
Third-party live CCTV feeds could provide Gardaí with a valuable tool for preventing crime, responding to emergencies and gathering evidence. However, their usefulness does not remove the need to protect privacy, human rights and personal data.
The final Code of Practice should permit targeted and proportionate access for legitimate policing purposes while imposing firm limits, detailed audit requirements, strong data-security measures and meaningful independent oversight. Public confidence will depend on people knowing not only that CCTV can help keep communities safe, but also that access will be justified, controlled and accountable.
Members of the public can review the draft Code and submit their observations through the Garda consultation page. The consultation closes on 14 September 2026.
Motorists now face significantly higher charges when reclaiming vehicles seized by An Garda Síochána, including scrambler bikes.
Under the revised fees, introduced on 14 August, the charge for the first day of storage has doubled from €125 to €250. Each additional day will cost €70, up from €35.
For vehicles weighing more than 3,500kg, typically heavy goods vehicles, the initial charge has risen from €250 to €500. The daily fee thereafter has increased from €50 to €100.
E-scooters are not covered by these revised charges.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport Mr Seán Canney said vehicle owners should bear the expense associated with removing and storing seized vehicles. He added that the higher fees more accurately reflect those costs while providing a stronger deterrent against road traffic offences.
Ms Susan Gray of road-safety campaign group PARC welcomed the increases, noting that the charges had remained unchanged since 2011.
Ms Gray said the previous €125 fee had failed to discourage some offenders, particularly inexperienced learner drivers travelling without an accompanying qualified driver, who were often able to reclaim their cars and return to the road the next day.
More than half of the cigarette packs examined in a new industry-commissioned survey did not carry evidence that Irish excise duty had been paid.
The 2026 Empty Pack Survey, conducted on behalf of Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Ireland, examined 5,000 discarded cigarette packs collected from streets and public bins in 22 of Ireland’s largest towns and cities. The packs were gathered between February 16th and April 3rd last.
According to the then findings, 57% were classified as non-Irish duty paid, mNo Duty Paid on image suppliedeaning Irish taxes had not been paid on them. However, this category includes both illegal tobacco and cigarettes legally purchased abroad and subsequently brought into Ireland.
Fourteen per cent of all packs examined were identified as counterfeit. Counterfeit cigarettes are manufactured without the brand owner’s permission and are generally produced to imitate legitimate products, deceive consumers and evade taxation.
Significant geographical differences were reported. Galway recorded the country’s highest proportion of non-Irish duty-paid packs, at 75%. Swords followed at 66%, according to the published results. Wexford had the highest reported counterfeit rate, with counterfeit products accounting for 25% of packs collected there. Ennis recorded a rate of 20%, followed by Waterford at 19%.
The survey covered 22 towns and cities, but the accessible reports do not indicate that Clonmel, Nenagh, Thurles or another Tipperary location was included.
Researchers assessed the discarded packs to establish their likely origin, examine their tax markings and determine whether they were authentic.
The findings should be interpreted with some caution. Because the research was commissioned by a tobacco company and relied on discarded packs, it does not necessarily represent the proportion of all cigarettes consumed or sold in Ireland. Empty-pack studies also cannot establish whether every non-Irish duty-paid pack entered the country illegally.
The latest official comparison currently available is Revenue and the HSE’s independently conducted 2024 survey of packs held by smokers. It classified 26% as illegal and another 11% as legal but non-Irish duty paid. Counterfeits represented less than 1% of the illegal packs in that study.
“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”
Geoffrey Chaucer 1385, in his epic poem Troilus and Criseyde (Book II) wrote: “Who that hath an hed of verre, Fro cast of stones war hym in the werre!”,
(Translated: “He who has a head of glass should beware of hostile stones.”)
The phrase warns against hypocrisy.
Sinn Féin justice spokesperson Mr Matt Carthy says violent offenders should “serve the custodial sentence that they were given.”
He raised questions after Ms Alison Chawke was released under supervision, after serving only four weeks of an effective 12-month sentence for a serious assault.
Ms Chawke had received an effective 12-month custodial sentence. She had served approximately four weeks, before entering the Community Return Scheme.
She remains strictly supervised by the Probation Service and must perform unpaid work; the scheme is formally restricted to prisoners assessed as posing no threat to the community.
But where was this absolute principle when Sinn Féin supported the accelerated release of republican prisoners under the Good Friday Agreement?
A total of 428 republican and Loyalist paramilitary prisoners received early release, including 143 serving life sentences. Among the first 248 released, official figures show that 78 had been convicted of murder.
Sinn Féin strongly supported the Agreement and its prisoner-release provisions.
The Good Friday Agreement was an exceptional peace settlement, endorsed by voters, and its releases cannot simply be equated with an ordinary criminal-justice decision. Nevertheless, Mr Carthy cannot credibly declare that all violent offenders must serve their full custodial sentences without acknowledging the major exception his very own political party supported.
He is entitled to question Ms Chawke’s release, the risk assessment and the effect of prison overcrowding.
But consistency matters.
If early release can be justified for people convicted of murder to advance peace, Sinn Féin should explain why supervised release can never be justified for rehabilitation or prison management today.
Otherwise, its position looks less like a consistent principle and more like political hypocrisy.
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