Criminal gangs are targeting farmers in rural areas to steal GPS units - senator
Tackling rural crime needs "real solutions" including a stronger garda presence, better rural CCTV schemes and tougher actions against offenders, a senator has warned.
Senator Joanne Collins, who was elected to the Seanad's Agricultural panel last month, said that farm thefts, break-ins and attacks on elderly residents in rural areas are "causing fear across Co. Limerick".
The Sinn Féin party member from Askeaton, Limerick was one of a number of senators who focused on the issue of rural crime during a discussion on community safety in the Seanad earlier this week.
Senator Garret Ahearn also shared how farmers living in some areas are in a "vulnerable position as they are not close to neighbours or friends.
"In Clonmel two or three years ago, a young farmer came home to his farm and people were on site robbing machinery and equipment.
"He tried to intervene in some way and was severely injured. We can be thankful that he has now recovered," the Fine Gael senator.
Meanwhile Senator Cathal Byrne said he supported the call by the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) for a designated rural crime unit to be established by An Garda Síochána.
"Many people may not be aware that criminal gangs are targeting farmers specifically to engage in the theft of global positioning system, GPS, units. The gardaí suggests they are being taken to eastern Europe.
"Many farmers are finding that because the tractors and machinery they are using to sow their lands in the tillage season have high-powered GPS units within them, they are being targeted for theft.
"I encourage any new rural crime unit to pay specific attention to that, as well as the theft of livestock," the Fine Gael senator added.
One other key issue that repeatedly was highlighted during the discussion in the Seanad was in relation to the number of gardaí on the ground in various rural areas.
Independent Senator Sharon Keogan, said that "many communities across Ireland find themselves with virtually no garda presence, particularly in smaller rural communities.
"Many Irish people across the country feel that policing is virtually non-existent, criminality is allowed to run free and justice for victims is a distant ideal for regular people," the senator added.
