Gardaí (Irish police) are appealing to the public to share any footage they may have of the alleged theft and the ensuing pursuit of a JCB digger in Co Carlow at approximately 7 am on Wednesday, March 5.

Carlow's Garda Superintendent Anthony Farrell confirmed the incident while speaking on local KCLR Radio on Thursday.

"Yesterday morning around 7 am, An Garda Síochána responded to an incident of theft of a heavy plant machine from Tullow, Co Carlow."

The machine was a JCB digger, multiple outlets have reported.

Farrell continued: "A managed pursuit was put in place to manage the safety of all involved, including the public and members of An Garda Síochána."

Gardaí pursued the vehicle through Tullow, Carlow, Ballon, and Castledermot in Co Kildare.

The vehicle was eventually stopped at White Mills, close to Co Wexford, and a male was arrested for alleged offenses contrary to the Road Safety Act. He was still detained as of Thursday morning.

Farrell appealed to anyone with any images or video footage of Wednesday morning's driving incident to make it available to An Garda Síochána or contact us at Carlow Garda Station on 059 913 6620."

Farrell added that during the course of the incident, a member of An Garda Síochána "discharged a less lethal device, directly striking the vehicle." The discharge has been notified to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.

Listen to this clip of Superintendent Farrell speaking to local KCLR radio: 

Footage of the "high speed chase" in Co Carlow was shared on TikTok, racking up more than 28k likes since being posted yesterday:

@herorecovery #hotpursuit #highspeedchase #jcb #jcbchallenge #fyp #fypdong #farmlife #farmtok #chase #roadblocks ♬ son original - police_vehicles_of_the_world