€2,500 worth of property stolen from councillor

CLARE County Councillor PJ Ryan has become one of the latest victims of crime in the county, after property valued at €2,500 was stolen from his business premises in Sixmilebridge.

Mr Ryan, who runs a farm machinery and home heating oil business in Iverstown with his sons, turned up for work last week to discover that a total of 21 batteries had been stolen from lorries, tractors and environmental storage bins in the garage compound. The theft has prompted the county councillor to call for the introduction of legislation to regularise the scrap metal business.
“Scrap metal is big business and I’ve no doubt the batteries were stolen for their lead content and their scrap value. Where I have a serious problem is the fact that the scrap metal business is virtually unregulated.
“All deals are primarily cash transactions; no questions are asked and no records are kept. Unlike when selling jewellery, sellers don’t have to produce any form of identification when trading in scrap metal. Certainly the legislation needs to be tightened up,” he told The Clare Champion.
Councillor Ryan believes the thieves were well conversed with the layout of the garage.
“To me it seems as if they knew the layout. We have good security, three CCTVs were in operation, yet they were able to avoid them. No vehicle went in or out of the yard so they had to gain access through neighbouring farmland.
“This is the first major theft we’ve had. There were some petty things in the past, nothing major. With these boys, nothing is safe. I’ve heard that manhole covers in cities are being robbed wholesale. Anything they can get their hands on is gone. Scrap metal is very big business at the moment, particularly if the raw material is costing you nothing,” he declared.
On the same night, two batteries were taken from a mechanical digger at Cappalaheen, between Kilkishen and Broadford. Almost 200 litres of diesel was also taken from the Hyundai track machine.
“In the second case the digger was parked two fields in and wasn’t visible from the road,” Councillor Ryan pointed out.
Gardaí have confirmed that a white Berlingo partner van was observed in the Cappalaheen area at the time of the larceny.