SHOPLIFTING has increased almost 200 fold in Limerick in the last two decades, according to official figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The number of cases has jumped from 741 in 2003 to 2,79 in 2024 – and those are just the ones who have been caught and the crime recorded.
Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, commenting on the figures, has called for “tough action against the minority of people who feel it is acceptable to steal from hard-working small family retail businesses”.
Figures show an 11.9 per cent increase in shoplifting in Limerick between 2023 and 2024 alone.
2024 was statistically the worst year since 2003 for shoplifting offences in Limerick, which – next to Tipperary – has almost three times the level of shoplifting as observed in other counties.
Amongst the measures Ms Ní Mhurchú is calling for to immediately address shoplifting in Limerick is for the government to introduce the Retail Crime Strategy, which was promised in the Programme for Government.
The Ireland South MEP also called for measures including mandatory prison sentences for anyone caught shoplifting on more than one occasion and an end to the practice of ‘retail defamation’ – in which someone can sue a retailer for defamation if they are stopped with the bona fide belief that they have stolen something.
One shop owner told Ms Ní Mhurchú that “filing a report with Gardaí is hardly worth it. Gardaí are also fed up seeing the same people getting off the hook and their time is being wasted with the same offenders again and again.”
“In the last year, I have been in court twice,” the shopkeeper said. “My son tried to stop a guy robbing cigarettes and he got a straight box to the jaw, which could have broken it. That offender only got tree months added to his current sentence.
“I caught a guy robing €90 worth of chocolate from me. He was already on a suspended sentence, which was activated, but he appealed it to the Circuit Court and walked free. He was back at my shop the following week after being warned by the court to stay away.”
Ms Ní Mhurchú said that local shopkeepers are fed up with what they see as a “revolving door justice system” for shoplifters.
