Fears are mounting that a 'trusted visitor' to a farm has has allegedly supplied insider information to criminal gangs intent on robberies.
ICSA rural development chairman Séamus Sherlock revealed that this has implications for unannounced visits by Department inspectors and, at the very minimum, suggests a need for reviewing the protocols around such visits. Farmers certainly need to be informed at the earliest date possible of such visits and which personnel were involved.
Mr Sherlock said: "Agricultural service providers are certainly going to have to be very careful with their recruitment processes in order to ensure that staff being sent to farms are reputable. It should be said however, that one case does not reflect a trend and in the vast majority of cases, visitors to farms are beyond reproach whether drawing silage or scanning cows."
He congratulated the Gardai in Laois for their recent arrests of individuals on suspicion of criminal activity. "It is reassuring to know that the gardai are taking a very proactive approach and I am calling on the Minister for Justice to ensure that they have sufficient resources to continue to pursue criminals relentlessly."
ICSA, in association with Waterford Institute of Technology, is currently conducting a study on rural crime on Irish farms. Farmers are urged to log on to www.icsaireland.ie to partake in the study, which involves a fully confidential survey of their experience with farm crime in recent years.
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