The owner of a small newsagent in Navan has won a landmark court case against the Health Service Executive (HSE). 

The legal battle was fought after the owner of Just a Thought claimed a HSE official had taken two packs of cigarettes without paying for them. 

Navan District Court ultimately found this to be true, with the shopkeeper finally receiving payment for the goods. 

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The owner of a small newsagent in Navan has won a landmark court case against the Health Service Executive (HSE). Pic: Getty IMages

Philip Keegan claimed that an authorised HSE official came into his shop at Johnstown Shopping Centre in June 2025 when he took two packets of cigarettes. 

The official took two packets of Silk Cut cigarettes, worth €36.90, for laboratory testing by the State Laboratory. This was supposed to test for levels of carbon monoxide, nicotine, and tar. 

The official reportedly gave a receipt for the two packs of cigarettes, but no money was ever handed over to the shop. Mr Keegan has been trying since May of last year to receive payment. 

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The official reportedly gave a receipt for the two packs of cigarettes, but no money was ever handed over to the shop. Pic: Getty Images

Mr Keegan’s solicitor, Jerry McGrath, claimed in court that the cigarettes had been taken by the HSE without lawful authority. 

However, the health body said it could not pay him the money on the grounds of ‘fiscal rectitude’. 

Navan District Court heard that negotiations between the two sides, following a court hearing in October, had yet to result in an agreement. 

Electronic health records in hospitals are at least seven years away – and the boss of the HSE has threatened to stop funding institutions that refuse to transform their outdated systems.
The HSE claimed it could not pay Mr Keegan the money on the grounds of ‘fiscal rectitude’. 

Ultimately, Judge Éirinn McKiernan granted a decree for €36.90 and legal costs of €1,500, according to RTÉ News. 

Vincent Jennings, CEO of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA), said the HSE had ‘improperly seized’ the cigarettes for testing when the law explicitly provides for the payment of tobacco products by an authorised officer. 

He later commended Mr Keegan for ‘sticking to his principles’. Mr Jennings claimed there were several opportunities for the organisation to pay for cigarettes, but it had instead decided to ‘squander’ up to €10,000 in a ‘wasteful manner’.