Vandals’ spree costs €30,000

THUGS who broke into a building site and hot-wired dumper trucks and used them to ram portacabins have caused up to €30,000 worth of damage.

The construction company working on a new building at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is looking for witnesses to a burglary at the site on Monday morning.

Brian McCarthy Contractors Ltd, the Ennis-based company building an 82,000-sqft Languages, Sports and Tourism/Hospitality building at WIT’s Cork Road campus, is conscious that someone travelling along the busy road must have seen something.

The damage was caused at the site of the €20m building project when a group of youths broke in, hot-wired two dumper trucks and used them to ram into a series of four cabins providing site offices and canteens. A fifth cabin was also damaged.

A security man disturbed the raiders at 6.45am on Monday and they fled across the Cork Road on foot. A spokesman for Brian McCarthy Contractors Ltd said it was the worst incident of vandalism that the company had ever encountered.

“This appears to have been a reckless frenzy with those involved clearly out to cause maximum damage.

“While the site is concealed from view by hoarding, the Cork Road is a busy arterial route in Waterford and we believe that someone will have noticed these people entering or leaving the site this morning.

“We would appeal to any witnesses or anyone else with information about this incident to contact Waterford gardaí on 051-874888,” he added.