Last January, we were on our way home from Scariff and Barry Nash’s first anniversary mass when we got a panicked call from our daughter, Hazel. It was about 1am and she was at home by herself. She was sure she’d heard commotion outside and the dogs were barking like mad. Needless to say, the back door was unlocked and she was afraid to go into the kitchen in case there was somebody there. We told her to turn on every light she could, turn up the television, arm herself with a poker and stay on the phone. At this stage, we were about 40 minutes from home.

We rang the gardaí in Askeaton and told them we thought we had an intruder. They took the call seriously and were in the yard within 20 minutes. All the time Hazel stayed on the phone to us. The gardaí reckoned someone had been there, but was scared off by the dogs and the activity in the house. They rang us later in the night to check if everything was OK.

Last Thursday night, 1,500 people turned up at the Anner Hotel in Thurles and many of them had a very different story to tell. Speaker after speaker recounted vivid descriptions of thugs and their activities, which are causing people to live in fear.

Farmyards stripped in what looked like robberies to order. Tens of thousands of euro worth of property stolen and tens of thousands more being spent on security measures that don’t really have the desired impact. Many of their stories had already been documented in the Irish Farmers Journal.

And it wasn’t just the financial loss that was driving people mad – it was the loss of personal freedom. With so many locked gates and security cameras, it is the ordinary law-abiding person who feels they are behind bars and not the scumbags who are causing all the trouble. Feeling safe in our homes is one of the primary characteristics and needs of a civilised and just society. At that meeting, which was organised by Save Our Community, it was clear that people no longer trust or believe this need is being met. They feel abandoned, let down and threatened by marauding gangs who appear to be able to strike at will and have no fear of the law. And it’s not the gardaí they blame for all this, but their paymasters – our politicians.

One of the most powerful contributions on the night came from Clonmel solicitor Kieran Cleary, who had left his hospital bed to be at the meeting. He said that over the past 15 years he’d seen a change in the profile of those appearing before the courts. “They are absolute thugs,” he said. “With not an inch of compassion or remorse in them.”

Kieran called on communities and the gardaí to work together and cited New Zealand, where if found guilty of three robberies you are electronically tagged. He added that after several convictions, free legal aid should no longer apply. This alone would fund the reopening and staffing of the many garda stations that were closed over the past five years. Our politicians would do well to listen to his advice.