Stole bag from Portlaoise Irish Rail Depot and was drunk in Laois motor tax office

A worker who stole a bag from the Irish Rail Depot in Portlaoise believed it was his bag, a sitting of Portlaoise District Court was told.   

Ross O’Keeffe (32) of 23 Deermount, Friars Walk, Cork pleaded guilty to stealing the bag containing car keys worth €200, sunglasses valued at €200 and a €30 iphone charger from the Irish Rail Depot, Old Knockmay Road, Portlaoise on January 20, 2026. He admitted being intoxicated at the motor tax office of Laois County Council on January 20, 2026 and at Boyle Sports, Market Square, Portlaoise on the same date.  He pleaded guilty to being intoxicated and engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour at Lyster Square, Portlaoise a day later on January 21, 2026. 

The defendant also pleaded guilty to stealing an €8 bottle of prosecco from Supervalu, Lyster Square, Portlaoise on February 25, 2026 and to being intoxicated at Harbour Street, Mountmellick and Oak Drive Mountmellick on the same date. He also admitted to being intoxicated and engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour at Oak Drive Ballincollig, Mountmellick  on February 5 and to being intoxicated at Oak Drive on February 10 and intoxicated at  Lyster Square, Portlaoise on February 24, 2026. He was again arrested for being intoxicated at Main Street, Portlaoise on June 25, 2026.  

Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said the man took the luminous bag from the Irish Rail Depot on January 20 and the property was subsequently recovered. On the same day the man went to the headquarters of Laois County Council where “he was drunk, refusing to leave the motor tax office” and later that day at 10pm “he was intoxicated and falling to the ground outside Boyles Sports”, he said. 

Sgt Kirby said that on February 5, the defendant went to the address of his ex partner in Oak Drive, Mountmellick and he was “intoxicated, shouting and roaring, calling expletives to members of the public” and on February 10 the man was at the address at 2.15am with no shoes on. He said the man was intoxicated and  “waking people up at that hour of the night”.  

He said the man went into Supervalu in Lyster Square on February 25 and put a bottle of prosecco in his jacket and left the shop. The item wasn’t recovered. He said the defendant had 81 previous convictions and 41 of these were for being intoxicated in public. 

Solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said her client was pleading guilty to all of the offences. She said there were two charges of theft, nine for public intoxication and two for engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour. 

Ms Fitzpatrick said the bag which was stolen from the Irish rail depot was recovered. She said her client had been working there at the time and he mistook the bag for his own bag while intoxicated. She said he had brought €8 to court to compensate Supervalu. 

Ms Fitzpatrick said her client had been granted bail a week earlier with a condition that he remain sober and stay out of Portlaoise except for visits to the maternity unit. She said he was abiding by these conditions and had also sought treatment. 

She said the man was “being a real nuisance to Mountmellick and Portlaoise and he acknowledges that”. 

Ms Fitzpatrick said the man is due to become a parent and he is determined to be a “sober and committed father”. She explained that addiction had become a permanent feature in his life and was something he wanted to change. 

Judge Susan Fay said the man could either address his addiction in prison or in residential treatment. She ordered a probation report, a community service assessment and requested a victim impact statement from the owner of the bag which was stolen in what she called a “horrible” offence. 

Judge Fay remanded the man on bail to appear again before Portlaoise District Court on May 26.