Following a number of recent attacks on people in rural parts of Ireland, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is set to meet with the Gardaí to assess what can be done to create safer communities.
Last month, Thomas Niland, a 73-year-old farmer was savagely attacked and beaten in his Co. Sligo home. The assault, which has left him fighting for his life in Sligo University Hospital, where he is currently on a ventilator, has sent shockwaves through the local community that are reverberating around rural Ireland.
In a separate incident, earlier this week, a 72-year-old man was hospitalised after he was attacked at his home in Celbridge in Co. Kildare.
And in December 2021, a farmer in Kerry suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries when he was assaulted at his farm.
IFA deputy president, Brian Rushe, said such attacks on people were “very concerning” and, in response, the IFA will meet with assistant commissioner of the Gardaí, Paula Hillman, next week to discuss what measures can be taken to make communities safer.
“Whatever resources are needed to assist the Gardaí in their work have to be made available,” he said.
“We will be encouraging the farming community to provide whatever help they can to support the work of the Gardaí. Apprehending those responsible requires a coordinated response,” he said.
Rushe said the victims of these attacks were targeted by gangs and subjected to horrific assaults.
“Nobody should feel under threat in their own home,” he said.
“The communities of these victims now feel vulnerable and unsafe because of the attacks.”
He added that the IFA will work with assisting the Gardaí to “develop community policing that gives a greater sense of security to those living in rural areas”.