Most people don't think dodgy box owners should be prosecuted, as 14pc admit to owning one
Meanwhile, 18pc of Irish people think the box owners should be prosecuted, while 18pc were not sure.
The poll, conducted by the Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks on Friday, July 4, asked more than 1,500 people three questions about the ownership of a 'dodgy box'.
A 'dodgy box' is an illegal TV device that lets users watch premium channels for free without a subscription.
The majority of people in Ireland don't own a 'dodgy box' as more than three in four (76pc) people answered 'no' when asked whether they own this device.
Meanwhile, 14pc of people in Ireland own a 'dodgy box' and 10pc said they prefer not to say.
Almost half of the people (49pc) said they would not consider getting a 'dodgy box' while 16pc said they are not sure.
However, 35pc said they would consider getting it, with this figure including respondents who already own a box.
Last month, Sky Ireland warned up to 400,000 dodgy-box users of 'consequences' if caught streaming sport or films using the illegal devices.
The broadcaster is also set to use private investigators to monitor WhatsApp chats to detect who is buying dodgy boxes, and is also considering civil action against individual users for the first time.
However, the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) will meet the broadcaster to discuss whether such methods are legal according to GDPR privacy law.
The streaming services are commonly sold through WhatsApp groups and other online discussion forums, where details of local dealers are provided.
In Ireland, using a dodgy box to stream pirated content is an offence under the Copyright Act, punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine of up to €127,000.
However, gardaí have consistently declined to pursue individual consumers of dodgy boxes, reserving action instead for commercial operators and distributors of the services.
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Sunday World
2 hours ago
- Sunday World
Disgraced hurler DJ Carey had ‘begging letter templates' he would send to cancer scam victims
Ex-GAA star targeted people he thought had money to scam them out of thousands The person described Carey as an 'emotional terrorist' who targeted them and a group of their friends in a bid to lure others into his scam to get money over his fake cancer yarn. This individual was due to be called as one of the state's 34 witnesses in the case against the legendary Kilkenny hurler over deceiving a string of people out of money before he this week pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 10 charges related to defrauding people who believed he had cancer. Today they unveil how the one-time sporting ace, who won five All-Ireland titles and is a former All Star and Kilkenny captain, caught people in his trap. Anonymous 'The investigating officers told us that, from half five in the morning until two o'clock the next night, he was busy with emails – he had three templates,' explains the person, who says they want to remain anonymous because they are fearful of him. DJ Carey in his playing days for Kilkenny 'Basically they were letters looking for help. He had one [relating to] Revenue, and he would send them to people in business who had issues with Revenue and they would be sympathetic. 'He had one related to the banks, saying 'the banks were at him' and they needed this help, and that was for people who he knew had issues with the banks. 'Then he had the one about cancer and sympathy. He sent that out to people who he knew either had cancer themselves or were bereaved because of cancer. He was sending them out to everybody.' The witness said they believe a lot of high-profile people were targeted by Carey. 'The police said it was literally a 'who's who' of Irish celebrities from the 1990s and 2000. He just randomly messaged everybody. He'd find their details or meet them at events,' they explain. 'We heard him one time on the phone to Mick McCarthy, and another time he said he was going to see Daniel O'Donnell in Donegal, whether he tried to bum money off him too, who knows. 'He'd keep in with GAA clubs, ministers, even lower level people so they'd feel starstruck with the big famous guy and so they'd be spilling the beans to him. He'd ring people gossiping all the time, looking for information on wealthy people or whoever.' The witness recalls how she first met the 54-year-old several years ago when they and a group of friends were approached by him in a shop in Kilkenny City while they were buying coffee. Started 'He just started talking to us and the second sentence was, 'I have terminal cancer',' they said. 'We would have recognised him from school, as we would have got a day off because of the All-Ireland, but we had never actually met him. He's a good bit older than all of us. 'I wasn't starstruck, the lads maybe, and he really milked that completely.' But having never seen him before Carey started turning up elsewhere. 'Almost the other same week the other group of our friends were in a restaurant, and he just sat there and made conversation and said the exact same thing,' they maintain. 'We found out later that he had been asking about us months before we actually met us. Him meeting us was not an accident, he researches people and does this to everyone.' The witness names a cancer victim whom Carey stung for €5000, but who managed to get it back off him. 'We would have had a few charity fundraisers in the town and he just did a bit of googling, and whoever was in the papers.' The witness also reveals how his story – about what he told them was his cancer journey – included dealing with a specialist in a Seattle hospital. 'The actual story of how he got 'cancer' is amazing,' Former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 6th 'He maintained he had a number of aneurisms around 2011, he said he was brought into a Dublin hospital for a treatment for a brain aneurism and he said some foreign doctor made a mistake and gave his radium therapy, which you wouldn't do. 'He said not only did they make a mistake with the treatment but they gave him too much. 'He said he got a blood cancer called multiple myeloma from this radium thing.' They say that Carey then claimed he got his 'good friend Denis O'Brien' to engage with a solicitor to help him (Mr O'Brien was listed in court this week as one of Carey's 13 named victims he scammed out of money). 'Denis O'Brien doesn't know him from a hole in the wall, but he said Denis gave him a solicitor and he said they sued James' hospital and he got over €1 million in compensation,' they point out. 'When we met him [he claimed] the prognosis was very bad and he had eight months to live. He was such a good actor, even putting on a croaky voice. 'Then he said he went off to a faith healer and got 'better'. Then he got 'sick' again.' The witness says they lost some money through her dealings with Carey through a different issue, but managed to get it back. 'I think he thought we had loads of money because we did a load of charity stuff and had a lot of connections. We do a lot of stuff with sick children. 'It's very weird, it wouldn't ask for money directly. He'd say he had 'issues with Revenue' and the payment was coming soon having won this litigation with the bank, so what he was always doing was looking for money in lieu of this big payment coming 'For us he never asked us for any money for treatment, but he used us to spread the story he was sick. We are different type of victims. 'We would have introduced him to an awful lot of people. 'He was known for following people around, get to know what they were doing. 'He would find out people's Achilles heels and use it against them. He would turn up everywhere.' The witness and their group were eventually contacted by gardai. Uncomfortable 'The police said 'the only thing we can tell you that all he was trying to do was buy time because it made him look like he was legitimate and accompanying nice people',' they disclose. The witness says gardaí said they had never came across anyone like Carey. 'When they had him for 48 hours, that he sat down and he did not move,' they stress. 'He didn't speak and he had no comment, and wasn't a bit uncomfortable and didn't flinch, They have to give toilet breaks, so he'd just get up for them. 'They said he would never reply, not even 'no comment'. They got exacerbated that he was so steely and psychologically not perturbed. They said they actually gave us and they'd never had anybody in custody like that. 'What they said to us and others was they believe it was a psychological disorder and most likely psychopathy.' A spokesperson for Denis O'Brien told the Sunday World the businessman had 'no comment' to make about DJ Carey.
Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Advisory group recommends closure of Arbour Hill, country's main prison for sex offenders
Arbour Hill Prison A report by the group has called for the decommissioning of the prison at Arbour Hill in Dublin, which currently houses around 135 long-term prisoners, over the coming decade, although it accepted that it would require 'a suitable replacement facility.' It has also recommended that priority should also be given to returning Mountjoy Prison to single-cell occupancy which would require around 210 prisoners currently housed in shared cells to be accommodated elsewhere. Given problems with overcrowding across the country's prison network, the group urged the Government to urgently explore opportunities to accelerate existing plans for large-scale capital projects and recommended fast-tracking such developments by seeking exemptions from normal funding timescales. It said consideration should be given to prioritising further development of Portlaoise Prison as well as the proposed expansion of the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise. The report noted that there was potential for new prison facilities at Thornton Hall in north Dublin and the redevelopment of the old Cork Prison site. On Arbour Hill, the report said that despite its drug-free status and low level of assaults, the age of the prison and the fact that the majority of its buildings are protected structures meant the possibilities for future development were 'extremely limited.' It noted that the prison has a mix of single and double occupancy cells and although in-cell toilet facilities have been provided, they are not partitioned. The report revealed that the country's prisons were operating at 12pc above capacity at the start of 2025, despite some 300 extra prison spaces having been added in recent years. It also observed that the number of assaults on prisoners by other inmates rose by 31pc last year against a background of overcrowding in Irish prisons. The highest number of people ever in prisons to date was reached on April 15, 2025 when the prison population was recorded at 5,394 including 276 women. The official prison capacity at the end of 2024 was 4,531, while it is estimated the prison population is likely to exceed 6,000 by 2035. The report observed that some of the worst overcrowding is in the two female prisons with the Dóchas Centre in Mountjoy operating at 32pc above capacity. However, the female prison in Limerick is the most overcrowded facility in the network of prisons, at 48pc above capacity. For that reason, the report recommended that consideration be given to increasing capacity at the two female prisons together with tailored initiatives to support women in the community. The report acknowledged that overcrowding in prisons poses a variety or risks including increased violence and assaults on staff and other prisoners and higher levels of contraband as well as unstructured early releases. It said the Irish Prison Service's current capital plan had the potential to accommodate 1,100 additional prisoners between 2024 and 2030 if fully funded with 230 expected to be available by the end of the current year. If fully implemented, it means the prison system will have capacity for 5,614 prisoners by 2030 if all existing prisons remain in use. The group has also called for a pilot project to examine the possibility of housing being built on existing prison lands or close to prisons given the very significant challenges identified by released prisoners finding accommodation and the related impact on recidivism levels. Other recommendations include a call for further consideration to be given to the potential requirement for an additional remand facility given the numbers on remand have been rising at a faster rate than the general prison population and the limited capacity to increase numbers at the main remand facility at Cloverhill Prison in Dublin. The group also proposed the establishment of a dedicated medical unit in Mountjoy as well as examining the potential of Mountjoy to pilot a day prison model While the report acknowledged that work was already underway to create additional facilities for elderly prisoners and those with additional medical care needs, the group said it held the strong view that some prisoners should not be kept in a prisoner environment and should be moved to appropriate community facilities. Figures show the annual cost of housing a prisoner was just over €99,000 last year with each additional 100 prisoners estimated at approximately €10 million annually. The group was established in July 2024 by former Justice Minister, Helen McEntee to examine the infrastructural needs of Ireland's prison system out to 2035. While the report said it was 'notoriously difficult' to predict the size of prison populations, it noted that an increase in violent and drug-related crimes meant more prisoners require addictions and mental health support with the need for cross-departmental approaches to address such challenges. It stressed that putting people in prison is an expensive option and alternatives exist which are 'both more cost effective and provide better and more sustainable outcomes.'
Sunday World
6 hours ago
- Sunday World
Face of pensioner who shamed swim coach George Gibney has been living with in Florida
If extradited to Ireland, Gibney will face 79 charges in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of four girls in the 1970s and 1980s George Gibney with the Irish Olympic Swimming Team returning from the Olympics in South Korea This is the pensioner who shamed swim coach George Gibney has been living with in a bungalow in Florida as gardaí continue to investigate his alleged crimes. The ex-Olympic coach appeared before a US court this week on foot of an extradition request from Gardaí who have been investigating him for alleged child abuse. If extradited to Ireland, he will face 79 charges in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of four girls in the 1970s and 1980s Gibney (77) was arrested in Florida on Tuesday nearly three decades after he had fled to the US after successfully challenging a previous attempt to prosecute him for alleged child sexual abuse. Despite the allegations facing Gibney, he was able build a new life in Florida and lived in a comfortable detached bungalow in Altamonte Springs. George Gibney in Florida He had previously worked at a hotel in the area but was fired after they found out about his history. He shared his home with Pedro Colon – a man with close ties to the Annunciation Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs. Colon describes himself as a software engineer and is involved with a number of local community groups. Images shown on a local TV show Gibney being arrested as he gets out of a car outside his home on Tuesday by armed police officers. In 2015, the Sunday World photographed Colon outside the home he shared with Gibney before the pair drove away in a white Honda. George Gibney arrested this week The duo – who are both in their 70s – are believed to have been living together in Florida for years, with most of their neighbours being unaware of the allegations against Gibney in Ireland. In 2023, Colon told the Sunday Times that Gibney has 'nothing to worry about' in connection with the Garda investigation into alleged sex abuse. However, Gibney's quiet retirement has now come to an end after he was arrested in by US cops on foot of the Garda investigation. Speaking to local TV news channel WKMG-TV News 6, Gibney's neighbours said they rarely saw him outside of his home. George Gibney's housemate, Pedro Colon, in Florida Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 6th Victor Valentin, who lives opposite Gibney, said the former swim coach was arrested a gunpoint. 'To have a monster like that living among us is just shocking, 'There were a lot of police officers, rifles, guns, bullhorns. They were yelling for this guy to come out.' George Gibney with the Irish Olympic Swimming Team returning from the Olympics in South Korea He added: 'They were trying to pursue their Olympic dreams and had someone who was supposed to support them, but instead betrayed them,' Valentin said. Gibney was charged with a number of offences in Dublin District Court on 6 June 2023 and the Irish Embassy subsequently requested his extradition from the US State Department. According to legal papers lodged in the US District Court, Gibney is wanted in Ireland to face 78 counts of indecently assaulting the four girls and one count of also attempting to rape one of them. All four were minors, aged between eight and 15, and were coached by Gibney. He briefly appeared before Judge Daniel Irick in a court in Florida and was remanded in custody to appear again in court for a detention hearing on Friday week, July 11. Gibney coached children with the Trojan swimming club in Dublin in the 1980s. He was a high-profile sports figure who regularly appeared in Irish media, until he was exposed for allegedly sexually abusing children. He appeared before Dún Laoghaire District Court in April 1993 charged with 27 counts of indecency against young swimmers and of having carnal knowledge of girls under the age of 15. The prosecution was halted after he successfully took a judicial review arguing that the delay in the offences coming to court would deny him a fair trial and also highlighting the lack of precision around specific alleged incidents. Neighbour Victor Valentin The Supreme Court found in Gibney's favour, after which Gibney moved to Scotland and later to the US. He continued to coach children in the US, working for a swimming club in Colorado but he lost his job after details of his past allegations in Dublin emerged. He stayed in the US and worked in various non-swimming related roles. His extradition will be welcomed by the many former swimmers who came forward with their experiences to gardaí after the BBC podcast placed Gibney under renewed scrutiny. Speaking in Japan after Gibney's arrest, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it showed the importance of judicial cooperation with the United States. 'I think we all listened to the podcast. I think it's important that we have an agreement with the US. Gardaí have been working very diligently and in a detailed way, I have no doubt,' he said. 'We will await the next step now,' he added.
