People 'living in fear' after spate of burglaries in Tipperary area

Locals are living in fear after being hit by a spate of burglaries in the Lorrha/Rathcabbin area in recent weeks. 

Five houses were hit by criminals over the last four weeks and in each instance the owners were away from their homes. A number of items were stolen from the homes, including a quantity of jewellery.

Cllr Michael O'Meara told the November meeting of Nenagh Municipal District that these burglaries had been “emotionally devastating” for people. 

“To say that they are upset and angry would be an understatement,” he stated. “There have been several incidents of burglary throughout the parish. My heart goes out to the victims, some of whom are elderly. Up until these burglaries happened these elderly people were living happily in their homes. Now they are enduring mental stress, mental torture. 

“Obviously I am not a detective, but from what I have been told it would seem that somebody, or some people, with local knowledge has either carried out these crimes or tipped off the criminals who then carried out the crimes. In fact I am certain that local knowledge was involved.” 

The councillor asked for the issue to be put on the agenda for the councillors' next meeting with the Garda Superintendent.

He said the policing situation is unacceptable and is not a service which is meeting the required standard. He added that he wasn't blaming the Guards, "who are doing a very professional job with each of the burglaries they are investigating.

However, they have to come from Roscrea which is too far away. Coming from Portumna or Birr would be preferable." 

He called the burglars “thugs” who are targeting isolated, vulnerable areas “because they know they are a good distance removed from where the Gardaí are regularly operating."

The Councillor said he disagreed with the recent Garda reforms which made Ennis the Divisional Garda HQ for Clare and Tipperary.

"I don't agree with Ennis being a Garda HQ for a Garda region stretching through Clare and Tipperary," he commented.

"Whoever thought Ennis would be an appropriate HQ for Lorrha / Rathcabbin needs their heads examined. 

“Anecdotally, I am hearing that the morale of the Gardaí is very low, that they are overstretched on the ground. Also, in the past the Gardaí had more respect from the public. Now there is not as much respect, which is very wrong I feel, but that's the situation. Some people who have no respect for the Gardaí also have no respect for other things or people, including their neighbours.” 

Cllr O'Meara pointed out that it was no exaggeration to say that since these burglaries some of the victims are now “scared for their lives. In one instance a woman went to mass. When she came back her home had been ransacked, during which items were stolen including her wedding ring. To come home and have the shock of seeing that your house has been ransacked by strangers, by criminals, is a terrible shock; it is an awful experience to go through. 

“We are in the eye of a storm at the moment in the Lorrha / Rathcabbin area,” he remarked. 

“This month it's us, but next month it could be somewhere else in the county,” he warned. 

The Councillor added that the closure of Lorrha Garda Station about 15 years ago was a big mistake.

Cllr Joe Hannigan agreed that local knowledge had to be involved. “In one case the victim, a lady, had gone to mass. In another case the home was vacant because the person there had passed away. It's obvious to me that local knowledge was involved in both these cases, in fact in all five cases.”

He said one distressed woman regarded her home as her fortress and now was suffering great mental stress because her fortress had been breached. 

Cllr Hannigan pointed out that Community Alert was a great scheme but it had fallen away during Covid when committees couldn't meet.

“We need to get Community Alert committees going again. They prevented a lot of crime.” He added that the Guards do a great job but there is a recruitment shortfall. “The criminals are so well informed that they seem to know when the Guards are on duty or off duty.” 

Cllr Hannigan added that the effect of the burglaries in Lorrha / Rathcabbin had rippled out into other communities in Lower Ormond. “In my own area of Kilbarron elderly people are now more fearful.” 

Cllr Ger Darcy said rural crime seems to come in waves. He recalled a spate of crimes some years ago in rural North Tipperary which made a lot of communities sit up and take action, setting up Community Alert groups. “Community Alert groups were very effective, they were very powerful. Unfortunately, Covid decimated them. I raised this Community Alert issue at the Joint Policing Committee level recently." 

Speaking to The Midland Tribune, well known local man James Heenan said it was "shocking to see the recent events of break-ins over the last four weeks in our parish. These culprits are targeting isolated, unoccupied houses or when owners are away. These crimes are  hugely stressful on  the victims due  to the obvious invasion of privacy and the loss of sentimental and irreplaceable items. Let's hope these culprits are caught and brought to justice." 

James said that in a couple of instances the thieves removed the CCTV cameras from the homes they were robbing. He added that it looks highly likely that local knowledge was used in the crimes. 

"On one level, this spate of crimes highlights the disregard and callousness of these perpetrators but also the lawlessness that's going unchecked due to our government's lack of investment in maintaining law enforcement in rural communities. We all have seen rural Garda stations closed over the last number of years. Our law enforcement system is like our health system, under-resourced and as tax-payers we are certainly not getting value for money from our inept government."