Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
RETAILERS ARE SET to tell politicians today that over the last two years there has been an “explosion” of shoplifting, with the levels of crime, violence and anti-social behaviour towards staff at an all-time high.
Musgraves, the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA), and the Retail Grocery Dairy & Allied Trades Association (RGDATA) will all appear before the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment at 9.30am this morning.
A representative of Musgraves, the owner of retail brands SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak, is set to tell politicians that there is an “alarming rise” in underage youths who “get a kick out of intimidating staff”.
It is Musgraves’ view that these young people are “totally lacking in fear given there are little or no repercussions for their actions”.
Meanwhile, the CSNA (which has 1,500 members across the country) will tell politicians that shoplifting has reached “pandemic levels” and that over the last couple of years there has been an increase in staff receiving abuse.
“The most worrying aspect of shoplifting today are the accompanying threats, the actual violence, the obscenities, the misogyny and the vile racist abuse levelled at owners and staff,” Vincent Jennings, CEO of the CSNA is expected to say.
“It may not be considered parliamentary language in this House but I cannot think of a more appropriate term for these people than thugs,” Jennings adds.
Tara Buckley, the Director General of RGDATA, which represents family-owned food retailers, is set to tell the committee that it is “no exaggeration to state that there has been an explosion in crimes against retailers in recent years”.
Buckley will also tell the committee about “gangs of feral youth who are completely out of control and believe they are untouchable and can abuse who they want and steal whatever they want with no consequences and organised gangs who arrived into towns and rob to order.”
Financial cost
Each organisation will also highlight the financial cost associated with retail crime and the impact it has on the viability of some retailers.
According to RGDATA director general, Tara Buckley her members report that retail theft costs them at least €40,000 per store in loss of goods, repair of fixtures and fittings and security and CCTV.
“The retailers that I represent also fear that the retail theft in their stores is not taken seriously because the items taken are often low in value – however if you are robbed on a daily basis it amounts up very quickly,” she is expected to say.
Musgraves will claim that this comes at a time when independent retailers are already facing a barrage of increased costs – including general inflation, living wage and sick pay for workers with pension auto-enrolment also shortly coming in next year.
Recommendations
According to Musgraves, across its network of retailers there could be over 1,000 issues a week that mainly go unreported.
Musgraves is asking the Government to step up its efforts to tackle the issue.
It will tell politicians that the recruitment of more frontline gardaí would be welcomed and that a dedicated operation by gardaí to tackle assaults on retail workers is specifically needed.
Garda resources is also an issue that Jennings will raise. He is expected to highlight a “deterioration in services from the gardaí in recent years.
“We are frequently provided with “lack of resources and personnel” as an explanation for slow, and in many cases no, responses to calls for assistance,” Jennings is expected to say.
Similar complaints are expected to be made by the RGDATA, with Buckley set to inform politicians of a lack of garda response to reports of crimes by its members.
The CSNA will advise the committee to recommend that each theft or abusive behaviour carried out by youths be the subject of a Tusla referral.
Jennings is also expected to ask the committee to “seek explanations” from the gardaí in relation to why Anti-Social Behavior Orders (ASBO’s) are not commonplace as a deterrent in Ireland.
In addition to this, the CSNA is set to suggest that retail employees deserve similar “accelerated protections” as were recently implemented for gardaí and first responders.
In May, the government agreed that the maximum sentence for assaulting or obstructing a garda will increase from seven to 12 years.
The RGDATA will also tell politicians that the deterrent needs to match the crime and be applied consistently by the Courts.
“We would like to see zero tolerance of retail crime and abuse against retail staff and custodial sentences for serial offenders,” Buckley is expected to say.
Buckley will also highlight the physical risk retailers face.
“Our members and their staff have been hit, kicked, beaten, spat at, stabbed with knives or syringes and shot at in the course of their work.
“There is a significant level of personal risk when seeking to protect your property. And for many that personal risk is at a level where it is causing them to question the wisdom of continuing to expose themselves to this level of risk,” she will say.
Meanwhile, The CSNA will also seek to “debunk” claims that the rise in shoplifting is directly related to the increase in the cost of living.
Jennings is expected to say: “This is not true, it is not basic foodstuffs that are most frequently stolen. Shoplifting by gangs are not carried out by Robin Hood and his Merry Men; individuals secreting alcohol on their person or persons literally emptying whole display sections of expensive personal hygiene products or washing machine refills are not robbing to feed a starving family.
“Anyone suggesting that retailers get what they deserve due to their position in society is guilty of perpetrating a falsehood.”
Musgraves and the CSNA will both highlight that shoplifting is not a victimless crime and given that retail is a low margin business, it has a serious impact on a retailer’s profit and their ability to keep the lights on, pay wages and pay taxes.
TDs and senators will also hear directly from a Centra retailer in Dublin who is currently dealing with two to three incidents of theft and antisocial behaviour a day.
Musgraves will also tell politicians of the impact on staff being verbally abused, threatened and intimidated and of the impact this can also have on staff recruitment efforts.
“Nobody should come to work and feel threatened and unsafe while doing an honest day’s work. For the individuals themselves this is terrifying,” the representative will say.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The law needs better scope to allow for reasonable force to used in order not to just defend oneself, but one’s place of work and business too. The gurriers need to understand that there can be hard-hitting consequences for their actions and only then will these crimes decrease.
@Laois Weather: I agree totally, but I believe we need to arm the Gardai with body cams and firearms, especially in the main towns and cities. The “gurriers”, as you rightly call them, don’t fear them, or you, or the innocent victims of their crimes. Consequences? A suspended sentence? “Not another one, guv.”
In Saudi Arabia, you’d get your hand amputated if caught stealing. So, you won’t do that a third time….or could you?
@Sean O Toole: I wouldn’t use S.A. as the poster child for justice.
there are 2 sets of laws in that country, one for those in control who regularly break all sorts of laws and one for the rest. Chopping of hands for stealing while ordering murders is not exactly what one would call justice!
@Sean O Toole: Yeah lets start chopping kids hands off, brilliant idea
@Denis Rathsallagh Brady: I have no issue with that, vermin need to be treated like vermin
@Murray peter: I actually agree with you Peter or Paul or harry or Bobby
@Laois Weather: You can legally use equal or less force to protect yourself and property.
@Murray peter: The trouble is who decides who is vermin?
Some might consider you to be vermin.
@Sean O Toole: The last thing we need is to arm the Guards.
There are too many thugs in the Guards as it is.
We would end up like the States.
@Eddienowy Byrne: The law needs to be updated and clarified so it gives business owners and their staff better protections when protecting both themselves and the stock that is being targeted.
@Eddienowy Byrne: 1st off, its not the property of someone working there.. where do they stand ? And secondly, not even Gardai can use reasonable force if you’re under 12 . Do you suggest asking for ID before you do so , if you happen to be the shop owner ?
@Laois Weather: how “hard” these consequences could be? we have a legal system where the hard-hitting should not go beyond the legal constraint. do you want to see fully-armed soldiers standing in every centra for using arms? do you want to see centra employees allowed to own “force”? how can you be so sure that these permissions will be used properly?
@Sean O Toole: Arming the Police would make no difference whatsoever in cases like this, what are they going to do, start shooting shoplifters? The law needs to get tougher, we need to start locking these little degenerates up.
@Murray peter: do you agree to chopping off hands for white collar middle class thieves tax Dodgers etc or is it a particular class of thieves only that concerns you.
@Sean O Toole: Cams will make very little difference. More gardai and a visible presence is the key. Tougher sentences but will never happen.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Exactly.
One man’s vermin is another man’s troll…….
It’s just yet another aspect of the impunity these people are allowed to enjoy. They feel they can get away with anything. It culminated on November 23rd. The softly softly approach has failed. They need to be put in their place
@GVR: These people?
@Louis Jacob: yes?
@Louis Jacob: Oh my lord, really?
He obviously meant the people that are stealing and you come in with that woke comment? Wow, just wow
@Louis Jacob: Irish feral youth.
We need boot camps and let the army deal with these unruly youngsters. Army would take no nonsense from any of them. We don’t have the prison space but we do have plenty of army barracks that can take this on. These teenagers would soon learn what the word respect means facing a few soldiers. And hit the parents of these teenagers with a fine. Get Tulsa involved. If these teenagers see they will face proper music they’ll think twice.
@Rory O brien: what a stupid comment
@Murray peter: How is it st&#id when you just mentioned shooting them below in a comment. At least my suggestion does not harm them but your way clearly does.
@Rory O brien: bang bang is the answer :)
@Rory O brien: I agree with you to a point until you mentioned Tusla. They can’t even do their own jobs. I have never in my life met a complete and utter dysfunctional government body. Anyone who has dealt directly with them will tell you the same thing.
@Rory O brien: he is here to antagonize, he keeps getting banned and keeps coming back under a new identity, He has full blown conversations with his other identities!
@Rory O brien: For pig iron sake assume I was one of the gurriers, I get sent to boot camp.
If I’m not already in custody who brings me there.
Who is actually gonna make me do anything there.
No can put a hand on me. Fine to say three or four soldiers will sort me out. Won’t work. As some of the comments will be spot on with tougher sentencing, I would suggest three strikes your out. Most of these have gurriers have sentences as long as your arm. No more chances after three strikes. Make the sentencing longer, take away their hotel privilege, (prisons). Most of these people will offend again and again. Law needs to change from offenders rights to victims rights.
@nurry peepee, no you stuuuped, stuuuped. Grdfjgddyu hhfd5t ugga ugga
@Murray peter: No it’s not, he’s spot on…
@Rory O brien: these youngsters, when life destroyed, they will have nothing to lose. that’s the beginning of every social fabric, contract undermined. that’s the beginning of true violence, like the 60s, 70s, 80s ireland.
@Dave Barrett: prison will soon be out of budget. those corporate tax will be used to pay for free meal & housing for youngsters in prison?
@David: I mentioned Tulsa for access to social workers as they are clearly needed there.
@Dave Barrett: I never said anything about harming them as these are kids after all that lack guidance not a firm hand. If one of these kids rebel which would be expected the rest there would have to take on extra chores and that’s how they’d learn. If not boot camps then what? Do we leave them with the system right now that’s clearly not working. It’s a cry for help we owe it to them to at least try something else to doing the same and getting the same results.
@Rory O brien: Yeah? What army. It’s underfunded lacking in numbers, with members jumping ship every day.
A scandal that the government is tolerating this. Enough is enough, make some laws other than allocating corporate tax to your friends, these are criminals not children.
@Jimmy Wallace: Start with this. Three strikes and you’re out. Tough sentences. Work while you’re inside. No internet, mobiles or conveniences. Abolish concurrent sentences.
Some of the videos on YouTube of dozens of shoplifters of a certain demographic flooding a shop and cleaning out the place are frightening. This hasn’t occured here yet that I’m aware of but it could if it’s not clamped down on now.
@Eamon: Are you speaking of S Africa?
@Eamon: it’s ok to say they are black
@Eamon: if you don’t like brown people man up and just say that loud and proud, it’s always the fake profiles too afraid to own there own opinions
@Martin Mongan:
How do we know your’s is real ?
@Regular John: cause I’m using my real name, unlike you another who’s too scared to own his own opinions and hides behind an anonymous account. At least you didn’t call everyone a virtue signaller today so you’ve made some progress in your life
@Martin Mongan:
I’m using my real name too ! How do we know that’s your real name ? Sure I could call myself Martina Mongan and post anything I like ! Lol…
@Regular John: I’m suprised you haven’t since your too scared to own your opinions.
@Martin Mongan:
Lol…. You still haven’t answered the question, how do we know you’re using real names ?
You’re a hard man on the internet, I’d say you’re a weak man in real life.
Removal of anonymity for so-called ‘minors’ doing this would be a start. Yesterday alone a family member working in retail came across 2 young girls (about 14/15) who had €900 of stolen merchandise on them alone, from just 2 shops in Galway.
Treating them as ‘minors’ is just giving them cover to operate with impunity.
Convict them, name them, give them (appropriate) sentences which are actually enforced.
@John Moylan: Why do you have minors in quotation marks, they are minors, whether or not their scrotes is a different story but picking and choosing who you view as minors is weird…
@John Moylan: “ so called ‘minors’”. So they not minors but adults? What are you talking about ?!
But McEntee sad Dublin was safe. We need to ask who exactly is Dublin safe for.
@Joe Stevens: In fairness to Helen, she was being escorted through Dublin by senior Gardaí at the time she made that statement so probably felt very safe
I watched a full grown man in his mid-late 20′s scream all sorts of abuse and hatred at a security man in a shop on Talbot st. He was challenged by this man and 2 younger teens to a fight outside, they then threatened to stab him, all in front of a busy crowd of shoppers, some with children.
The reason for this chaos was that the security man had caught the teens shop lifting, they took issue with this because he was a black man and “didn’t belong in their country”!
@David: this is why retailers need to be armed
@David:
These often fake ADHD ‘sufferers’ need to be tarred and feathered with their chavy canada goose stepping rags, paraded through town and cities and then put to work rigorously cleaning and maintaining various public amenities with no internet access for at least 12 months, until they learn how to behave like proper geals and not the chavvy sassanach s¢um that they’re aping and mimicking all the while!
If whatever spawned and ill-reared these tie-rags kick up, it’s the exact same for them alongside their poor deprived angel darlings and for the entire 12 months too….barring any actual diagnosises, verified by 2nd and 3rd parties if need be!! ;@)
All thanks when these scrotes see literally zero repercussions with the government’s kiddy gloves approach.
@Kieran Menon: armed retailers and the problem stops :)
@Murray peter: It doesn’t though, troll.
@Tom Dillon: go full Kyle Rittenhouse on them :)
If they act like animals treat them like animals
@joseph punch: If you treat them like animals, they will act like animals
@Mick Duvanny: exactly, social chaos will ensue, as is happening
@Mick Duvanny: but their not treated like animals, their treated like royalty in the crim justice system. If you want to see children treated like animals have a look at Palestine for a bit of perspective not our bunch with designer clothes and iPhone
@Mick Duvanny: if you shoot them you solve the problem immediately
I can say from considerable experience I project managed retail crime initiatives on retail for over 20 years in London and I’m afraid you have to fight fire with fire 0 tolerance catch detain and arrest. This isn’t complicated as retailers have said if there are consequences for actions that’s the deterrent. But until laws and powers change in relation to retail crime allowing trained staff protection and PPE for stopping and detaining a violent shoplifter you cannot start to remedy or resolve the problem.
Shopkeepers should be armed
@Harry Cock: No, they should not.
@Harry Cock: absolutely, let the scrotes have it bang bang
@Harry Cock: Yeah, right. Because
It has worked so great in other countries.
@Felicity Hensen: I am. I have two of them and I don’t mind swinging them at some threatening scrote’s head
I worked in retail security for years and there is little to no punishment for shoplifters and most of them dont give a fiddlers f if they are caught. The heavy hitters come in gangs with spotters and will lift thousands of € in stock before you realise what is happening. Junvilles know they have a free pass and will taunt you while there friends video it. It’s the lack of punishment that has allowed this to get this bad and it’s only going to get worse unless something is done about it.
Touchy feely sentencing. Girl loses eye in deliberate attack. Perp gets 3 years lol. Out in a month. Should have got 10 years on Spike doing hard labour. No TV. No pool table etc.
@gregory pym: yes 100 percent..
@gregory pym:
Yes, that was a shocking sentence altogether. Literally adding insult to injury for the poor girl.
If you give me your size I’ll rob ya something nice for Christmas.
Dublin 1 has had a catastrophic failure in policing for many years now, last week I was chased down Marlborough St by an aggressive beggar who ran and try to kick me,
There is no respect for the Gardaí, we now have a generation , particularly young people , who think they are untouchable from both soft policing and a lack of Gardai on the street as we appear not to have enough to keep Dublin safe . I heard anecdotally from Spain where an Irish person left a restaurant without paying and the local Police caught up with him later that night, they drew their batons and knocked him to the ground and handcuffed him, and he stayed behind bars until his fines were paid, if he hadnt paid he was en route to Court the following morning !
@Bungle Mr: Proper order, they dont tolerate the level of crap over there that we tolerate here
We need a big building built on spike island,put them all in there without phones iPads etc
Give them lots of healthy foods and teach them to cook their own.No shop no rubbish no money ,have a big security yard where they can exercise have gym equipment etc
Send them in life coachees and emotive speakers in learning,respect and empathy to their fellow human beings…
Let their parents visit them twice a month…keep them their for a year on the understanding that if the comit again they go back in for another year.
Cut off the parents money for them if they recieving..but unfortunately good parents sometimes can’t control them so state must teach them manners and respect…
Our justice system now doesn’t work, is unable to control these young gurriers.
@Aine: easier to just shoot them
Dublin is safe!
@Fred North: More like Fred West.
Letting buisness people and indeed gardai take up arms is going down the American route and we know where that leads(mass shootings etc..)tougher sentences and some kind of consequences for parents is the way to go.
@Willie Marty: It seems quite likely that any lack of parental supervision is due to both parents having to work such long hours that these kids raise themselves.
If we want to solve that problem, then we have to ensure that parents are able to spend sufficient time with their kids.
ideally that means that one income should be sufficient for any family.
As *the* major expense is rent, that means getting housing back under control.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: most families I know both parents are working hard all hours and the kids have turned out fine learning by example.
@Willie Marty: How many of those families are paying a mortgage, as distinct from rent.
A mortgage which, in general, reduces in cost with each passing year.
Rent which increases with each year.
I find that those who have a mortgage have more time for themselves. More time to spend with their families.
And those paying rent have to work more and more with each passing year.
With less and less time to spend with their families.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: ha ha ha, funny that you think their parents work. Usual guff in court is difficult upbringing, unstable home and other excuses which suggest they are just the next generation of their parents lifestyle. And the courts accept this and off they go to commit more crime.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere:
You think these feral kids have working parents ? Lol… God bless your innocence.
@Toyo Ke: And it is not strange to me that you believe that they don’t.
You forget that those claims made in court are made by lawyers, the lowest of the low.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: You are a turd.
@Toyo Ke: you think people don’t get off by standing in front of a judge and say he comes from a good family, was never in trouble before etc or has strong ties to the local gaa club. Happens every day of the week aswell
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: id say its more a case that the parents are strung out on some drug or locked from a few cans. ive seen parents stociously drunk arrive at 2:30pm to collect their kids in the local primary school. these same kids are provided lunch by the school because the parents would rather spend money on drink and drugs as opposed to food.
As long as the judges are giving low or no sentence, that will keep on giving. Curiously no judges are getting mugged, or robbed or kicked or spat at….
@Dominic Leleu: Why is that curious?
Absolute bedlam in shops at moment. People go crazy this time of the year. Yould feel very sorry for anyone working in retail.
The “explosion” in shoplifting reminds me of the tsunami in homelessness and the hurricane in “God above, will we ever make it to tomorrow” If I was a right winger I’d be crying and crying and crying…. booooo hooo hoodoo. They said it would be the Africans… but it was the white Irish kids…. please find me my safe space… I’m a useless Irish person who is just not interested in working
@Louis Jacob: it seems the lefty has triggered himself in a post lol
Dear lord, why don’t we just kill the lot of them, problem solved, the comments are crazy on this topic and the news article went on forever, yet comments closed on other Issues. Yes they are out of control, yes this Government has underfunded communities for years and were warned of the outcomes, but arming shop keepers etc have we learned nothing from America etc, violence breeds violence, its not a solution.
It’s comes back to garda are under resourced. Communities are under resourced, kids being brought up in hotel rooms, it’s all a ticking time bomb. These are kids at the end of the day, the law should do its job and take them off the streets. Tag them curfew them. Parents can’t control many of them, and the system and services are just not there.
@colette byrne: execute them.
@No To Refugees: fool
@No To Refugees: Troll.
The comments here are…
interesting.
No one has mentioned psychology.
The psychology of hope,
And lack of hope.
We have been creating a society that is more reflective of the dog-eat-dog US system, and with the same results.
People need hope.
People need to believe that they can work towards and achieve a goal.
There is almost an entire generation who can no longer believe they will ever be able to afford their own home. That their income – the results of decades of their hard work – will be for the benefit of their landlord. That they have been reduced to mere serfs.
Too many have lost hope.
We need to give the people of Ireland the real opportunity to own their own home, to give them a reason to work so hard, a reason to work so hard for themselves and their families. Not work so hard for the leeches of society.
With home ownership comes all sorts of other benefits too. A pride in themselves, rather than justified grievance and apathy.
Most of the ills that blight Irish society come back to this lack of housing.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: yes I hear a lot of what you say,but burning there own city type of thug and attacking/spiting /abusing their fellow humans dosnt quite cut it..they are law on themselves…
@Aine: Two different things, involving two different sets of people.
Those riots I presume you are referring to were most likely sparked by far-right groups, with a political motive.
Judging from the comments here, the shop-lifting scourge seems to be by teens, and the consensus seems to be that lack or parental supervision is of significance.
Two different problems, with different roots.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere:well some of the looters and scoundrels looked like young teens to me that the policeman was trying to beat off on O Connel bridge…
@Aine: My understanding is that the riots were organised by certain groups; groups which are run by people somewhat older than teens.
That some teens might have taken part does not mean they are the same as those who are involved in shoplifting.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: you’ve desperate naivety mate. Do a year’s work in one of these shops and see how you get on
@J P: As members of my family have worked in such places, I suspect I know more about it than you.
But my point stand irrespective of your unwillingness to address it.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: not members of your family…you means you. Your ideals are commendable and I applaud you for that but those ideals don’t solve the issue of being beaten or spat at while at work. I mean if you were the guard etc speaking with that victim of crime, would you look them in the eyes and just launch into a talk about hope and pride?
Very concerning that so many excuses are made for the gurriers who are causing the trouble whilst the welfare of victims of the crimes are not seen as the priority.
Bring back the slipper and wooden spoon. Sit on the naughty step and reflect on what you said doesn’t work. This behaviour is years in the making
@Lydia Mcloughlin: Perhaps it would be a good idea to examine the policies of other countries, and identify those that work?
You know, those that do not have a huge problem with recurring crime.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Spain and France would be a great start, don’t mess with their law enforcement
Martin Mongan: I’m replying to your reply above regarding my “Fake profile”. My name is Eamon and I’m a Leeds united supporter. Would you like my surname, phone number and address also?
@Eamon: you could put your surname up and own your own opinions but boys like you are never man enough to do that. I could respect your opinion if your man enough to come out and say it but you’ll never do it.
@Martin Mongan:
Some people would say it’s foolish to put your full name up here… You wouldn’t know what class of nutter you’re dealing with ! Nobody believes that’s your real name anyway, you’re only a bit of a troll.
@Regular John: almost like your too much of a coward eh?
@Martin Mongan:
Lol… Martin “hard man” Mongan
The only thing these thugs understand is a greater force than themselves. That’s how they keep their own in line.
Not sure where we can detain all these scrotes but maybe reopening Spike island would be a good start.
@Hotirish: Yes they could all be guarded by tour guides.
That’s because a good auld kick up the arse is not allowed anymore
These kids need to be encouraged , not punished , they are all gods children and we should support and care for them.
have your say