Armed gardaí raced to the scene of a reported armed robbery in a Kerry village this week, only to find a student film being undertaken by transition year students.

Vice-principal of Causeway Comprehensive School, Anne Marie Hassett, apologised to gardaí and the passer-by who alerted gardaí to the robbery on a dark wintry night.

Permission had been secured from the shop owner in the village of Causeway, and from parents, for the film shoot. However, Causeway Comprehensive had not notified local gardaí of the production.

Inspector Liam Wallace of Listowel Garda Station said a member of the public who passed the shop genuinely believed a robbery was taking place.

Inspector Wallace said the response of the gardaí was “commensurate with the report we received”.

“You are talking about armed units from both Listowel and Tralee and uniformed gardaí from both Ardfert and Listowel,” Insp Wallace said. “At least in and around 14 people” were involved in the garda response.

Insp Wallace spoke to Radio Kerry and stressed the need to alert gardaí to such events, but said the public should not be put off reporting such incidents which they believed to be true.

“In this instance there was a slight break-down of communication. A simple phonecall to us in advance could potentially save us a lot of trouble and a lot of difficulty. Our concern is that, while we have resources attending at that particular incident, they might have been required elsewhere.”