Christmas a peak time for burglaries, security firm warns

Businesses have been warned to take precautions after nearly 200 attempted intrusions were recorded by a security firm at Irish businesses over the Christmas period last year.

Netwatch is asking all business owners to take extra precautions before closing up for the holidays, after it saw an increase of 21% in criminal activity last year.

Around 30% of all attempted intrusions were recorded on Christmas Day.

David Walsh, CEO of Netwatch, says owners need to make sure all security systems should be in working order.

"Particularly around the physical security - making sure that fences, gates are all in good working order, locks are on doors and so on,

"And for companies that have intruder alarms on their buildings, they need to make sure that they are working, in good working order.

"They need to make sure that the contact list, the keyholder list, is up to date, because there's nothing worse at Christmas time for An Garda Síochána trying to contact keyholders to get access to properties, and they are unable to do so."