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 Cattle rustling has started again, striking at Irish midland rural areas. The Gardaí and the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) are advising farmers to be extra watchful, especially in relation to any outlying owned or rented farmland, following a spate of recent Wild West style cattle rustling incidents. These incidents have happened here in Tipperary, Galway, Limerick and other midland counties.
Cattle rustling, until recent years, was mainly an isolated Irish North/South border area phenomenon; however cattle thieves are now making massive profits stealing stock from isolated farmsteads in the heartland of Ireland, striking usually under the cover of darkness.
On Monday, October 21st last cattle to the value of €8,000 were believed stolen from a farm near Curran’s Cross, Mountmellick, Co Laois, during the night. Some 15 cows were also taken by cattle rustlers from a farm at Newport, Co Tipperary, last January. A similar robbery was also reported in the nearby area of Castleconnell, Co Limerick.
With prime beef cattle, near finishing, and worth up to €2,000 a head, cattle thieves can make massive profits stealing stock particularly from isolated farmsteads. Since these stolen cattle cannot be legally sent to licensed slaughter houses, it is presumed they are instead being taken to isolated slaughter houses to be butchered and sold out of vans with the carcases later dumped or buried in other remote locations.
Gardaí are requesting farmers to ensure that gates to outside farms are locked and fully secure, thus make it as difficult as possible for thieves to remove animals. They are also asking late night rural motorists to make careful note of persons travelling at night with horse transport trucks, cattle trucks or other such transport vehicles.
Note: Here in Thurles efforts are being made to further revitalise the existing Neighbourhood Watch Schemes in Thurles town, particularly coming up to Christmas. The Thurles Neighbourhood Watch schemes has been of significant benefit to Thurles Gardaí in their fight against house burglaries, minor crime and also ensuring that elderly people, living alone feel protected and safe. So if you are interested in contributing to your local town community, through Neighbourhood Watch, you are invited to attend at Thurles Garda Station on Wednesday next November 20th 2013, at 7.30pm. (Special Note: This Wednesdays meeting is for Thurles town residents only, however existing outlying regional Neighbourhood Watch Schemes can also expect to be visited in the coming months.)
Remember partnership between An Garda Síochána and the public, works on the basis that every member of a community can help to improve the quality of life in their area, by keeping a look out for their neighbours and immediately reporting any suspicious or unusual activities to the Gardaí.
For further information on Thurles Neighbourhood Watch, contact Garda Chris Verling at Thurles Garda Station Tel: 0504-25100 or Mobile: 083 4156785.
Did you pass along the roadway known locally as “Borroway,” (Boheravoroon), latter situated between the junctions of Kickham Street on the Dublin Road and Mitchel Street on the Moyne Road on November 14th (last Thursday)? If you did, can you recall noticing any unusual or suspicious activity in this area?
Thieves broke into a house in Borroway, situated in an area close to the Tarmon Drive entrance, sometime between 3:00 pm on Thursday afternoon and 11.15 pm on Thursday night last.
Thurles Gardaí are urgently seeking your help and asking anyone who may have observed persons acting suspiciously or who noted any strange vehicles in this area, to contact them immediately.
Thurles Gardaí can be contacted locally on Tel: 0504-25100 or on the Garda Confidential Line Tel: 1800 666 111.
 Top level Irish Garda officers will begin from tomorrow a two-day crime summit in the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Their aim is to discuss nationwide operations against organised gang crime, while also maintaining public policing in the face of continuing Government cuts. It is expected that the targeting of drug gangs, travelling burglary gangs and gun crime will be amongst the more pressing issues to be discussed.
The conference, gets under-way as news emerges that a dedicated operation to reduce burglaries and catch the most prolific criminals has seen some 4,000 criminal cases reach the courts. In the latest data obtained from ‘Operation Fiacla,’ some 6,972 arrests have taken place, since its inception back in the spring of last year to the end of last month, accounting for some 3,971 criminal charges.
While many day to day break-ins are simply opportunistic burglary, intelligence gathered shows clearly that other crimes are committed on a full commercial scale, often by gangs using fast cars while seeking to offset the effect of detection and seizure of drugs and drug mony. Because gangs have a national reach, it is crucial for officers from across the State to meet regularly to discuss current operations and share intelligence.
New structures for community policing will also be a major part of discussions over Wednesday and Thursday in Templemore.
 A paramedic, who used his iPhone to spy on female colleagues in a unisex toilet, has walked free from Nenagh Courthouse, without a conviction.
Mr Robert Murphy had pleaded guilty in March 2013 to a charge of harassment committed on May 5th 2012, following the discovery of his iPhone in a toilet at a HSE ambulance base situated at Tyone, Nenagh Tipperary.
Nenagh District Court were told of how one of Mr Murphy’s female colleagues had noticed a box of disposable gloves with holes punched in it, perched on a windowsill at the toilet. When she examined the box closely she discovered Mr Murphy’s phone recording her in video mode.
The unnamed victim of the case then complained to her supervisor and Mr Murphy admitted guilt, apologised and deleted the video recording in front of the victim, Nenagh court was told.
The following day Gardaí visited Mr Murphy’s home and the father of three again admitted his guilt.
In court today Mr Murphy’s solicitor stated to Judge Elizabeth MacGrath that his client had previously put his life in danger for the public’s safety and had performed over and above the line of duty in his occupation as a paramedic, and he could not see any service to the people of Ireland in State law now recording a conviction in this particular case.
The court was informed that Mr Murphy, who was supported in court by family and friends, had fully engaged with the probation services and continued to undergo counselling, having paid €5,000 in compensation to his accuser.
The court was also informed that Mr Murphy was facing serious disciplinary action by his employers, the HSE, and if a conviction was recorded it would have very serious consequences for any future employment.
Judge Elizabeth MacGrath took into consideration Mr Murphy’s previous unblemished character; his traumatic life as a child when his mother was murdered and his father’s conviction, forcing him to move from the US to Ireland at the age of eight years; the fact that he had engaged fully with the probation services and also that Mr Murphy’s wife had been diagnosed with cancer four years ago, into her judgement decision.
In applied the Probation Act, Judge MacGrath stated that the accused had gone as far as he could go, in making amends and that he was of very low risk of re-offending or of becoming a danger to anyone into the future.
 Templemore Garda Training College It was Garda Commissioner Mr Martin Callinan who told an Oireachtas Justice Committee in November 2012 last, that he would not like to see his Garda Force sink below 13,000, before new recruitment resumes.
Current natural wastage through Garda retirements runs between 250 and 450 per year, thus signalling that Garda numbers will fall below 13,000 before any new Garda recruits can take up postings late next year or in early 2015, since all new recruits are required to complete a 32 week period of training before being posted to selected stations.
In realistic terms this would indicate that if new recruits are not sought to begin their training immediately or within the first three months of 2014, then it would be early 2015 by the time they could be granted station posts, thus reducing Garda numbers to several hundred personnel below the specified required 13,000.
It was expected that the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter would use the latest ‘Budget 2014,’ to inform this country of his future plans for such recruitment. However while Budget 2014 appears to grant a commitment to resuming Garda recruitment, it failed to indicate a specific date regarding the lifting of any current staff embargo.
As part of the terms of our EU-IMF bailout, the Troika had stipulated that Garda numbers were to be reduced to 13,000 by the end of 2012. They were not, rather instead overtime and wages were cut to meet the cost overspill. It was anticipated that while numbers would be reduced close to 13,000, it was never imagined that Gardaí numbers would be allowed to fall below Commissioner Callinan’s required stated level.
In July of this year Fine Gael Justice Minister Alan Shatter stated that it was very important for an organisation like An Garda Síochána, given the demanding nature of policing, to receive a reasonably regular intake of new recruits. He also stated he would be making arrangements with the Public Appointments Service, so that they could do the necessary preparatory work to deal with new applications later this year.
Earlier in February 2013 Deputy Noel Coonan TD warmly welcomed positive news from his Fine Gael colleague, Justice Minister Alan Shatter, that the Government was now to review its position regarding the future recruitment of new Gardaí.
In his statement of February last Deputy Coonan said; “Garda numbers have been reducing, due to the moratorium on recruitment put in place by the previous Government as part of its plan to reduce the strength of the force to 13,000. Our objective, despite the enormous financial pressures facing the Government is to ensure that Garda numbers will not fall below 13,000. At Wednesday’s Cabinet Meeting, Minister Shatter announced the good news that recruitment may recommence as part of a wider determination to ensure that the Garda Síochána, as a body, has the greatest possible resources made available to it, and that it is supported in making the necessary new reforms to ensure that those resources are used to the greatest effect.”
For A Ha’porth Of Tar The Ship Was Lost
Despite cuts in pay, cuts in staff numbers and cuts in overtime, no commitment to future Garda recruitment has commenced, despite the continued diminishing of services to the taxpaying public.
To my knowledge no Troika members were in attendance at the funeral of a murdered Dundalk detective earlier this year, to apologise, seek forgiveness or offer their sympathy to his family.
However, no doubt the huge financial cost now incurred by the State, following this detectives unnecessary death was discussed, yet the moratorium on Garda recruitment continues to be ignored.
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