LIMERICK farmers have criticised Garda management for “non existent” response times to calls about gangs trespassing on their lands, stealing expensive farm equipment and assaulting farmers.
However, Assistant Garda Commissioner Paula Hilman advised farmers or anyone else “who may have a licensed firearm not to take the law into their own hands”.
Upset farmers expressed their fears at the Annual General Meeting of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association, (ICMSA) in the Castletroy Park Hotel yesterday (Monday).
Limerick ICMSA County Chairman John Bateman (60) from Meanus said gangs have been roaming his and his neighbour’s lands without fear of being caught, as there was “no response” from Gardaí to their calls for help.
Roaming gangs are robbing “anything they can sell” including livestock, pet dogs, strimmers, electric fences, vehicles, water pumps, welding equipment, quad bikes and trailers.
“The problem is they are getting more aggressive, and when you stop them they tell you to, ‘f**k off’- and when you’re confronted by seven of these guys in a remote field, it is not funny,” Mr Bateman said.
“It’s quite frightening – if you ring 999 you expect somebody to come to your aid, but Garda response times are nonexistent.”
Mary Kissane, (73), a widow living near the Limerick/Kerry border at Tarbert, said cattle rustlers stole five of her cows last Friday night, and claimed it took Gardai five hours to visit the scene after the theft was discovered the following day.
A tearful Ms Kissane, who lost her husband Jim (86) to cancer and dementia earlier this year, said the theft left her in fear of being targeted by the criminal gang again.
“My son rang the Gardaí at 1.10pm and they came out at 6pm. They said there was some accident they had to go to first, and they looked around the farm, it was dark at 6pm and there was no sign,” she said.
“There are no Garda stations in any of the villages now, they only come for an hour a day now. They’re part-time.”
Ms Kissane said the nearest manned Garda station to her was about 12 miles away and there should be more Gardaí present in rural communities “to make the people aware there is a guard present in the locality”.
ICMSA delegate Willie O’Donoghue said he was prepared to use his legally-held rifle “if I have to” to defend himself.
“If someone breaks into the house and I’m put into a corner and they have a firearm, I won’t back-off,” said Mr O’Donoghue.
Assistant Garda Commissioner Hilman, who addressed the Limerick meeting, said: “We recognise the issue that some people don’t feel safe in their surroundings and in their houses, but we can work with the ICMSA to provide reassurance, and see what we can do to help build confidence and reduce that fear of crime.”
She advised farmers or anyone else who may have a licensed firearm “not to take the law into their own hands”.
Representing Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, Assistant Commissioner Hillman said that despite fears expressed by farmers, there had been a decrease in burglary across the country, including rural areas.
She said Gardai launched “Operation Thor” last month focusing “targeting travelling criminals who commit this type of offence”.
“Crime prevention officers, community Gardaí, and Garda TEXT Alert systems, allow people to report crime as well as enabling them to have a partnership with Gardaí.
She said she was not aware of any plans to reopen closed rural Garda stations as community Gardaí are accessible to the public all over the country.
“The important thing for us is how we advertise where they are and how local communities know.
“It is about giving Gardaí equipment, including vehicles that are visible. We have also introduced Garda clinics where people can go to at certain times of the week, so there are other avenues that we can use to be out in communities without necessarily reopening the Garda station.
“If there are areas where we hear people don’t have that information, we will come back with that information and build those relationships,” the Assistant Commissioner added.
ICMSA President Pat McCormack said that since mid-year, “the issue of intimidation of landowners, assaults and thefts have come to the fore, and the State needs to take note and act.
“Farmers are being openly threatened in their own yards and fields by groups of men who often are brazen enough to post video clips of themselves trespassing and threatening the farmers on social media
“If a tenth of regulation and enforcement that’s heaped on to farmers was directed at these gangs roaming around the country, the problem would be solved in a month,” Mr McCormack declared.
