GAA Clubs urged to check defibrillators after Laois thefts

GAA clubs are being urged to check their defibrillators following a number of thefts in Laois in recent days. 

Four of the life saving devices, which deliver an electric shock to regulate a heartbeat in the case of cardiac arrest, were discovered stashed with suspected stolen property in Portlaoise on Saturday.

All of the devices, which were discovered along with a quantity of jewellery, are suspected to have been stolen from local GAA Clubs.  

One of the devices was stolen from St Joseph’s GAA grounds in Kellyville, Laois and a second was taken from Arles Killeen GAA. A third device was stolen from Castlemitchell GFC in Kildare and it’s not yet known where the fourth device originated.     

St Joseph’s GAA PRO Antoinette Brennan urged clubs to go out and check on their defibrillators. She explained that with the season winding down, thefts such as these can go unnoticed. 

“Is anything sacred?” asked Ms Brennan. “We put it in in 2016 and we trained up a lot of people on it,” she explained. The club fundraised in order to pay for the device at the time, Ms Brennan recalled.  

“We are very rural so we don’t have shops or public places that  you can put anything on and we made it available to everyone in the community and also the HSE,” she said.

Ms Brennan said the defibrillator was located at the rear of the club building and she suspects whoever stole it knew where it was located. 

Thankfully, Ms Brennan said the club has never had to use the device but she believes it would have been “devastating” had an emergency happened and they then discovered it was missing.  She urged other clubs to go out and check their devices immediately.  

Gardai investigating the theft of the defibrillators from GAA clubs in Laois and Kildare recovered the life saving equipment in Portlaoise on Saturday.  

Laois Offaly Gardai had issued an appeal on social media over the thefts from St Joseph’s GAA Club in Laois and Castlemitchell GFC in Kildare. 

St Joseph’s GAA said they believed the theft occurred from their Kellyville grounds sometime between Wednesday, November 2 and Friday, November 4.

On Monday afternoon Gardai confirmed four defibrillators were found along with some other suspected stolen items of jewellery at a location in Portlaoise on Saturday, November 5. The recovered items were estimated to be worth over €3,000.

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Gardai described the thefts as “unusual” and said they were treating the matter very seriously as the theft of such equipment puts lives at risk. No arrests have been made and the matter remains under investigation. 

Gardai are appealing to anyone with information or who may have seen anything suspicious at the clubs to contact Portlaoise Garda Station on 057 8674100.