Court of Appeal increases sentences for three men in Carlow arson case

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal ruled on 17 July 2025 that the sentences imposed on Keith McCormack Smith, Jason Ryle and PJ Lyons for an arson attack in Carlow were unduly lenient. Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy quashed the sentences and resentenced the men.

McCormack Smith received eight years with the final year suspended, leaving seven years to serve. Ryle received seven years with the final year suspended, leaving six years to serve. Lyons received six and a half years with the final two years suspended, leaving four and a half years to serve.

McCormack Smith pleaded guilty to arson at Tip Top Tanning Studio and to arson of a Toyota car at the same location on 17 May 2022. He also pleaded guilty to other charges, including unlawful use of a motor vehicle, unlawful carriage in a motor vehicle and theft between 1 and 17 May 2022.

Ryle and Lyons pleaded guilty to arson arising from the same incident and to other charges, including unlawful use of a motor vehicle, attempted theft and theft on various dates in May 2022.

On 31 July 2024, Judge Eugene O’Kelly sentenced McCormack Smith at Carlow Circuit Court to six years with the final two years suspended. Ryle and Lyons each received five and a half years with the final two years suspended; Lyons’s suspension was for two years and three months.

Kennedy said the arson was very serious, citing planning, a getaway vehicle, the attack on a business, the evacuation of apartments, and the men’s previous convictions and bail status. She set headline sentences of ten years for McCormack Smith, nine and a half years for Ryle and nine years for Lyons before reducing them.