College break-in ‘an attack on society’

The burglary of Scariff Community College last Friday has been described by the chairperson of the board of management as “an attack on society”.

At approximately 5.30am on Friday, February 18, at least two people forcibly gained entry by damaging the front door of the school. They also caused considerable damage to the alarm system and ransacked offices in the school.
Commenting on the burglary, chairman of the board of management, Councillor Pat Hayes, appealed for anyone who could assist gardaí with their investigation to do so.
“Anyone who has any information in relation to this should contact the gardaí in Scariff. This was a well-planned break and entry and a lot of damage has been done to the doors and the security system. It’s an attack on society really, when your school is attacked,” he said.
Deputy principal at Scariff Community College, John O’Donovan, explained, “They disconnected the wires to the alarm and the phone lines. The worst damage was done to the doors. It certainly wasn’t worth the effort. Our only consolation is that we hope no one from the local community was involved, it seemed too professional to be an ad-hoc break-in.”
There were two other burglaries in East Clare last week, where between 11.15pm on Wednesday last and 7.40am on Thursday a house in Glendree in Feakle was broken into.
A Baikal single-barrel shotgun, a spare wheel and a small amount of cash were stolen.
Meanwhile in Quin, a shop on the main street was broken into early last week, where a safe containing a small amount of cash was taken.
In light of these incidents and a number of reports of stolen diesel and home heating oil, the gardaí and Councillor Hayes are encouraging the public to remain vigilant and take extra precautions.
“I think there’s really an urgency on communities to be vigilant. The fact is that there have been a spate of break-ins in East Clare. We need to be vigilant here. I think people would want to be vigilant at night-time especially, with the thefts of diesel and oil.
“People are left very vulnerable when they feel there were people on their properties late at night. I would ask all communities to play an active role in this to try and reactivate community groups like neighbourhood watch and community alert schemes,” Councillor Hayes said.
Anyone with information regarding any of these incidents or who would like to set up or reactivate a community watch scheme is asked to contact Scariff Garda Station on 061 921002 or their local community garda.