Value of goods stolen from homes hits €50m
New figures, compiled from more than 16,000 household insurance claims, found an average of more than €4,000 was taken from each burgled home as the number of raids increased by 2.3%.
According to the Eircom Phone Watch Burglary Report, the most vulnerable types of residences are semi-detached and detached houses, which account for six in 10 burglaries and more than €30 million in stolen goods.
Furthermore, houses with three or four bedrooms accounted for 80% worth of goods stolen over the same period.
Nick Quigley, chief executive of Eircom Phone Watch said: “Burglaries are still on the increase in Ireland and burglars are perhaps aware that people can be lax about security in the home. We need to learn from this and be much more conscious of home security on a daily basis.”
Dublin is still the most burglary-prone location in Ireland, accounting for 43% of all household burglaries up to June this year.
However, that figure climbs to 60.3% when Dublin is combined with the surrounding counties of Kildare, Wicklow and Meath.
But while the number of burglaries in Dublin over the past 12 months remained largely unchanged, robberies in Cork have increased from 8.5% to 14.6% of all burglaries outside the Dublin area.
Kerry, Limerick and Meath also showed increases in the number of burglaries while figures for Galway, Waterford and Louth are all down.
“The increase in burglaries nationwide is very concerning. The fact that Cork has shown such a significant increase is also very worrying. While the rate of burglaries in Dublin is broadly in line with last year, there should be no room for complacency,” Mr Quigley said.
Within Dublin, the Southside accounts for 61% of burglaries, the Northside for 39%.
Householders are becoming more security-conscious, with 10% more alarm systems installed compared to last year. Four in 10 burgled homes had alarms; of those, 76% either did not have them switched on or their alarms were not in working order.
