The organisers of the Celtic Poker Tour, a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament played throughout Ireland and coming to Dundalk in early July, has commented that it has been made aware of An Garda Síochána Special Branch Force presence around some of their competitions.

Liam Delaney said that “someone once said something to me about it a while ago, but I didn’t take much interest into what they were saying”. He also commented that he had “no cares of what their intentions are” because he is operating in a completely legal environment.

“To be honest, this is the second time that it was mentioned to me, and I don’t really bother with it because I’m doing nothing wrong. So why should I care, you know?”

The Special Branch were not available for contact at time of print.