In Pictures: Over 250 voice their anger at meeting on rural crime in Limerick

“THE LAW is not working to protect farmers,” declared Sean Lavery at a Limerick IFA meeting on farm trespass and rural crime.

Staff in the Woodlands House Hotel, Adare had to get extra chairs to accommodate a bigger crowd than expected last week.

Mr Lavery, Limerick IFA chairman, said the attendance of over 250 reflected how concerned people are. The main issue is men coming onto farmers’ land without permission and hunting hares with lurchers. Mr Lavery listed out a number of issues reported to Limerick IFA which include “intimidation of landowners and actual assaults”.

He said: “There is a siege mentality and anxiety among those living in farm houses and down rural lanes. Gates have been damaged, locks cut, electric fences damaged, and machinery stolen.”

There were a number of speakers on the night including James Staines, IFA solicitor; Barry Carey, crime prevention executive with IFA; David Lyons, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Sgt Frank O’Sullivan.

There were also a number of contributions from the floor including from two speakers who said men entered their land without permission that very morning in the Clarina area.

“There were five of them. They had lurchers with them. They went through a field with in-calf heifers. The whole place is terrorised with them,” said one of the farmers.

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A second man stood up and said he too had had the same unwanted visitors on his farm in Clarina that Tuesday morning. He claimed they were from Tipperary Town.

“There is a hell of a lot of land between Tipperary Town and Clarina. They are only casing places to see what they could knock off. This needs to be stopped and stopped now. The gardai were called and in fairness to the guards they came on,” said the farmer.

Limerick Live contacted gardaí in relation to the incident. A spokesperson said gardaí responded to a report of a group of males hunting on land without the landowner’s permission in the Clarina area at approximately 11.45am on Tuesday, October 25.

“The group was conveyed from the area and no arrests were made,” they added.

Limerick gardai respond to men hunting with dogs on farmers' land

There were a number of interesting points made by the speakers.

Mr Staines said signs that say “Trespassers will be prosecuted” are not entirely correct as it is a civil offence not a criminal one.

However, Mr Lyons said if it is men hunting hares with dogs then that is an offence of unlawful hunting and the perpetrators can be prosecuted.

The advice to farmers, from Mr Carey, is to ask them to leave and not to threaten them. He spoke of an instance where matters escalated and a farmer was beaten with an iron bar. Mr Carey said if they don’t leave then ring 999, ask for gardai and say you fear for your personal safety.

One man said he has had a number of different conversations – both softly and more aggressively - with people on his land. But, he said, it invariably ended with him being “taken the p*** out of”.

“It is a long walk back to your property fuming because there is nothing you can do about it,” he said to loud applause.

Another audience member to contribute was Tom O’Donnell who was punched and knocked unconscious while moving his cows across a public road on the outskirts of Kilmallock in 2019.

“The minority are terrorising the majority,” he said.