The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has called for specific data to be produced on incidents of farm trespassing.

The comments follow a meeting between the farming organisation, An Garda Síochána, the Department of Justice and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) on the issue.

ICMSA deputy president, Denis Drennan said that trespassing on farmland by illegal hunting gangs is now an “endemic problem” which needs to be dealt with.

“We need a much more comprehensive record of this problem above and beyond other instances of rural reporting.

“How many complaints did the Guards receive about this kind of trespass-hunting and whereabouts? What was the response – if any? Was there a report by the Guards concerned and if there was, was there any follow-up?

“Are the same individuals or groups of individuals being noted at these incidents and is there a recurring pattern of abuse and intimidation on their part?

“The state agencies and An Garda Síochána are going to have to get serious about this and we are going to need a much more detailed and coherent account of what ICMSA believes to be a really insidious and nationwide problem,” Drennan said.

ICMSA

Although he said the meeting was “useful”, the ICMSA deputy president noted that there seemed to be “confusion on the part of the state” in relation to the powers available to gardaí when responding to incidents of “threatening trespassers”.

“ICMSA has heard from several farmers who had been in this situation and who told us that they had the impression that the guards arriving to the scene of a trespass or standoff did not themselves seem to know what to do beyond asking these gangs to move on.

“This is really the nub of the problem: Is there any sanction or consequence for the trespassers beyond that?

“Because if there isn’t, the farmer is usually in a worse position for having contacted the guards then if he or she had done nothing and just continued to allow himself or herself to be threatened and bullied by these gangs,” Drennan said.

Rural crime - Garda car police parked in countryside

“The guards need to have a meaningful response procedure and the trespass and threats must have consequences for these gangs or there’s really no point in the guards coming out,” he added.

To improve the response system, the ICMSA suggested that the Eircode system needs to be expanded to include land holdings.

They added that farmers should be able to contact garda divisional or district crime prevention officers on a 24/7 basis, if needed.