An assault at a Waterford residence has left a man in his 70s dead.
In a statement on Monday, Gardaí said the man was found with injuries and in an unresponsive condition at a residential property in St Catherine’s Grange, Waterford City, shortly after 2:00pm on Friday, 1st August. He was taken to University Hospital Waterford, where he died on Sunday, 3rd August.
A man in his 30s was arrested at the scene during the incident and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984. He was later charged and appeared before Waterford District Court on Sunday.
The local Coroner and the Office of the State Pathologist have been notified, and a post-mortem examination will be carried out. Gardaí said a technical and forensic examination at the scene has been completed.
A Senior Investigating Officer is leading the case, while a Family Liaison Officer has been assigned to support the deceased’s relatives. An incident room has been set up at Waterford Garda Station.
Investigators are appealing for anyone with information to contact Waterford Garda Station on 051 305 300 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
“Investigations are ongoing and further updates will follow,” Gardaí wrote.
The victim has been described as a well respected trade union leader by the name of Pat Fitzgerald.
According to local media such as Waterford News, local Independent Cllr. Donal Barry of Waterford city south was a former colleague of Fitzgerald.
“Pat started his career in Waterford Crystal as a blower. He was then a full time union official in the plant,” he said.
“There was 3,500 of us (employees) there at one stage and Pat was highly respected among all the workforce and even by and management. He did an awful lot of good work with the union then. He was a fantastic union official and was well known throughout the country in the former ATGWU. He was (involved in the sit in) until the very end.”
An analysis of 2024 crime figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) found that more than half of Garda stations recorded higher offence levels than in 2019.
The breakdown of almost 218,000 offences logged by An Garda Síochána last year shows that 292 of the State’s 564 stations reported crime rates above pre-pandemic levels, even though overall national figures were lower than in 2019.
Stations with increased crime levels included major urban hubs such as Waterford, including Store Street in Dublin, and Anglesea Street in Cork, along with large towns such as Wexford, Navan, Clonmel, Naas, and Sligo.
The data also indicates that almost one in four Garda stations – 24% – recorded their highest crime totals in recent years during 2024.