Dundalk retailer reveals impact shoplifting is having on staff and local business

The issue of shoplifting and the effects on retailers was discussed at a Dáil committee last week where Dundalk retailer Colin Fee and Louth TD Ruairí Ó Murchú discussed the problems faced by shopkeepers.

Mr Fee, who owns forecourt stores in Dundalk and is president of the Retail Grocery Dairy and Allied Trades Association (RGDATA), was one of a number of witnesses to give evidence at the Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

In his interaction with Mr Fee, Deputy Ó Murchú said Ireland has a reputation for having the “best shoplifters going”, when new detection technologies are being talked about, and he asked if the Dundalk store owner agreed.

Mr Fee said: “I do not know what other countries are like but we are a nation of cute hoors. It is a problem that has always been there but it is much bigger than people realise. People look at it as petty stuff. However, a large number of small things become a big number.

“They start getting more aggressive and that is when it starts hurting – when the staff feel threatened.”

The Sinn Féin TD said he had once spent a summer as a security guard. He said: “I was told you do not put your hand on anybody unless you think they can get a six-month sentence. “We have all seen where the witnesses are dealing with a greater level of aggression.

“It is particularly seen in hospital settings, where you can be dealing with very chaotic characters. A security guard will probably not take that risk and the people at the other end are probably aware of that. It is an issue that needs to be addressed.

“If you go through court reports, you will find it is the same names. If you break them down individually, they are not crimes that will get a person a life sentence.

“These are probably chaotic people. When they are not busy shoplifting, they are eating tablets and whatever else. It is a wider societal issue but the witnesses have to deal with it. I am not saying there is any way to absolutely police that.

“There needs to be some element of sanction, and chaotic circumstances need to be addressed. We also need to at least try to address it in relation to future generations.

“Sometimes, the problem for the witnesses is they will be dealing with these people head on. We can all talk about what needs to be done in respect of intergenerational trauma, addiction and mental health issues, but it is not always pretty when you have to deal with it in your shop and it is going off on one of your staff members”.

Mr Fee said it was “not pretty at the coalface”. He said: “If you have a site in a disadvantaged area, 95% of the people are nice, law-abiding, good people. It is just a small minority.

“My biggest problem is that there seems to be no deterrent. Earlier, I mentioned a guy who has four, five or six bench warrants against him. He came back in and robbed again. In fairness to the gardaí, they got him.

“He has done us perhaps 20 times. As I said, we started reporting everything. We had five or six but he was up for other stuff in other shops as well.

“Two gardaí took him to another court an hour's drive away to get him. The judge let him out and he came back and shoplifted in our shop that night”.