The lives and livelihoods of farmers around north Dublin are at stake, Dublin IFA chair Philip Maguire told a public meeting hosted by the IFA in Swords on Wednesday night.

The meeting was held in response to the scrounge of rural crime in the north Dublin region over the last number of months.

Livestock theft, livestock slaughter, assaults on farmers and illegal hunting are among the incidents which have taken place recently.

“There has been far too many cases [of rural crime] in recent years… it has got to a stage where we have advised farmers not to confront [trespassers].

“Stronger and tougher sentencing is required to keep criminals off our farms,” Maguire said.

Also speaking on the night was Superintendent Tony Twomey, who polices north Dublin.

In terms of crime Supt. Twomey said it is irrespective of where it happens – it impacts on people terribly.

“The quality of information from rural areas in terms of suspicious activities, is of far more quality than an urban area – [people] are invested in the area,” he said.

Supt. Twomey said that the issues of boundaries, where Garda district lines begin and end, is going to be addressed in the next couple of weeks, as part of a national control room strategy.

“What has happened before is that boundaries were controlled by different communications centres, but for north Dublin and the eastern area, all of the communications will be centralised in Dublin.

“I know people have a reluctance in using 999, it’s a call filtering service, if you’re looking for the Gardaí, [your call will go through to a] dedicated call centre, the appropriate information is taken and logged.

“Calls will be captured and aligned with pulse crime reporting system. It will be there, monitored and acted upon,” he said. The superintendent said that he is intent on sitting down in next while to develop a patrolling strategy for rural areas of north Dublin.

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