Thieves take 60,000m of copper cable from Eircom

Eircom lost 60,000m of copper cable worth over €240,000 to metal thieves in 2013, while a further €17,000 worth of copper wiring has been stolen so far this year.

While thieves will steal most metals in the hope of making easy cash, copper, lead, and aluminium have been particular targets.

An Eircom spokeswoman said: “Metal theft continues to be an issue for us. We had over 200 incidents in 2013 involving over 60,000m of cable. These thefts do result in loss of service to customers but we always work hard to restore service as quickly as possible.

“We would strongly urge anyone who has an information relating to metal theft to contact their local Garda station.

“There are a number of cases pending against the culprits.”

A Metal Theft Forum was established in 2011 by An Garda Síochána, involving various groups of stakeholders affected directly by this type of crime, including communications, utility, transport, recyclers, the agricultural sector, and government departments.

The objective of the forum was to gather information and enable stakeholders to become proactive in developing a multi-agency solution to this crime.

Then, in February 2013, An Garda Síochána launched a Metal Theft Prevention Plan while last May Crimestoppers commenced a metal theft awareness campaign.

According to the gardaí about 2,500 metal theft incidents are reported to them every year.