Tipperary councillor says 'local knowledge' must be at play in break-ins in rural area

A Tipperary county councillor has said that a certain amount of local knowledge must be behind a crime spree in their area.

Following an increase in house break-ins in north Tipperary, Cllr Michael O’Meara said: “My heart goes out to people. This is a huge invasion of privacy and the stress and mental torture it is causing is completely unacceptable.”

Cllr O’Meara told the November meeting of Nenagh Municipal District Council that to say people were angry was an “understatement” following at least five break-ins in the past couple of weeks around the Lorrha and Rathcabbin area.

Saying he was “no detective”, Cllr O’Meara said that “in all cases there must be a certain amount of local knowledge. These thugs are targeting isolated areas. A lot of people have no respect for their neighbours or for the gardaí”.

He said that people had gone to Mass and come back to find their house ransacked, with personal items such as wedding rings taken.

He told Nenagh MDC that the new Tipperary/Clare Garda Division was not working,

“The gardaí are doing their job but there isn’t a service at the moment. They are covering an area from Ardcroney to Ballyvaughan,” he said.

The councillor called for the Lower Ormond area of north Tipperary to be removed from the division and given to either Portumna or Birr to look after.

The Lowry Team member said that whoever had come up with the idea of making Ennis in county Clare the Garda Division headquarters “need their head examined”.

He said that anecdotally he had heard that morale in the force was very low.

“The gardaí are doing their best, but they are stretched on the ground. The number of young people entering the Gardaí is very low,” said Cllr O’Meara.

He was backed by Cllr Joe Hannigan, who said that local knowledge was “definitely” involved in the outbreak of crime.

“I know of two houses where people have died and their houses were then ransacked,” he said. “Older people are fearful. The gangs are so well-organised they nearly know when the gardaí are off.”

Cllr Hannigan called for Community Alert to be brought back up to speed.

Cllr Ger Darcy also called for Community Alert to be rejuvenated, saying it had been decimated during Covid.