“Tis a great little country” a judge remarked after being told a man with over 100 convictions who was found boarding a train in Killarney for Banteer in Co Cork with a new bike he had just stolen from a shop in the Kerry town’s High Street would be able to go back home on the train on a free travel pass.

A man with 102 previous convictions — 29 of which were for theft — was caught boarding a train in Killarney with a €500 bicycle he had earlier taken from a cycle shop, along with two jumpers from a shop near the railway station, Killarney District Court was told.