MUINTIR na Tire is to receive £50,000 from the Department of Justice to expand its community alert scheme. The Minister for Justice announced the funding yesterday, following a meeting with the organisation about the recent spate of violent assaults in rural areas.
According to Ms Owen, the funding was granted following a Garda survey which found a 17 per cent decrease in attacks on the elderly in areas where the scheme had been introduced. It also found a 25 per cent decrease in burglaries and a 21 per cent decrease in other crimes.
There are about 800 community alert schemes in operation, involving over 150,000 households throughout the State.
Ms Owen met the Muintir na Tire delegation as gardai launched investigations into three robberies in Lismacaffrey, Co Westmeath, early yesterday, in which about £2,000 worth of cigarettes, alcohol and CDs were taken. The raids are believed to have been carried out by the same Dublin gang.
The robberies took place at Lismacaffrey Post Office, at a nearby public house and at another pub in Ballinalack, seven miles away from which a substantial amount of cigarettes was taken.
The raiders converged on Lismacaffrey, about 12 miles from Mullingar, at about 5.30 a.m. They were driving a car stolen in Castleknock, Co Dublin. Gardai say £600 worth of cigarettes were taken from the post office when the door was forced. The alarm woke the Donnelly family who own the premises. The intruders escaped in their car.
The gang had earlier robbed a pub about a 100 yards away and took about £400 worth of alcoholic drink and about £1,000 worth of CDs. Later, they went to the pub in Ballinalack and stole a substantial amount of cigarettes.
Gardai say there were two men involved and possibly a third driving the car. They are continuing their inquiries but no arrests have been made. The stolen car was abandoned in Blanchardstown.
A spokesman for Muintir na Tire, Mr Jim Quigley, said Ms Owen said she could not commit herself to extra prison spaces, as the Cabinet was due to discuss a comprehensive report on the issue within the next two to three weeks.
He said the £50,000 would be used to employ two full time officers to promote and develop the community alert scheme, in addition to two existing full time officers and two part time workers.