Gardaí probe whether woman assaulted in Tipperary was attacked by group after car rammed

Scene from Birdhill

A woman seriously injured in an assault in Co Tipperary on Saturday is thought to have been attacked by a group of people armed with weapons.

She was transferred from University Hospital Limerick to Cork University Hospital today with serious head injuries.

The woman was left for dead at the side of a road, at Birdhill around 5.30pm, on Saturday evening.

The woman, in her 20s, is a member of a family from the Traveller community from Limerick City.

Gardaí are working on several theories as to the background of the assault including that the woman may have been travelling in a car that was rammed by a group in another vehicle and dragged from her car and attacked with implements at the side of the roadway.

On Saturday evening the injured woman was initially attended to by HSE paramedics at the scene and then quickly airlifted by a Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter to University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

Doctors continued to monitor the woman at the Resus unit at UHL, and she underwent a CT scan at the hospital where her family maintained a vigil.

Paramedics transferred the woman from UHL to CUH head trauma unit where her condition remained serious, on Sunday.

Gardaí closed off the R494 roadway at Birdhill, and conducted a forensic examination of the scene throughout Sunday.

Appealing for witnesses, a Garda spokeswoman said: “Any road users who were on the R494 between Birdhill and the M7 motorway between 5pm and 6pm on Saturday, 21st March 2026 and may have camera footage (including dash-cam) are asked to make this footage available to investigating Gardaí.

“Investigations are ongoing,” she added.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Nenagh Garda Station on (067) 50450, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.