An Offaly farmer whose ‘Boora Bainne‘ milk vending machines were vandalised during an incident on his farm, has been buoyed by offers of help and information.
Paul Molloy of Boora Bainne Milk Company has been forced to temporarily close his vending offering, after it was vandalised on the night of Wednesday, October 5.
At 12.15a.m, two men entered the shed where the vending machines are located and forcibly attempted to take cash from the machines.
Paul said it seemed that the thieves were familiar with the shed as they pulled down the security camera before they went in.
“The camera had been placed in such a way that it wasn’t visible when you went into the shed,” he said.
An estimated €15,000 worth of damage was caused.
“The bottle machine is card only. They opened the other machine but that didn’t have money in it. They just took a float of mostly 50c, 20c and 10c pieces,” Paul said.
Boora Bainne
He started the Boora Bainne initiative at the end of July as a lockdown project.
“I had been looking at different ways of diversifying and the bottled milk and flavoured milk sales were going very well. I had regulars from a 15 mile radius,” Paul said.
“People liked using the vending machines because you get a different product to what you get in cartons.
“What happened is a big setback. I will have to wait until I can source new equipment.”
He got a lot of feedback from his social media posts on the incident which he said was very disheartening. However, he has been encouraged by all the offers of help from local people as well as the information passed on.
Paul is reviewing his security on the farm and hopes to restart the Boora Bainne Milk Company in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Birr Gardai.