Copper thieves steal 2.5km of phonelines
An Eircom spokesman confirmed that the cable was stolen in the Johnswell area and that a further 100ms had been stripped from poles near Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.
The rising price of metals is driving thieves to target phonelines, which contain valuable copper.
Eircom said that the thefts, which occurred the weekend before last, may have taken place at night. It has urged the public to report any suspicious work on overhead cables.
Senator Denis Landy, who lives near Carrick-on-Suir, was one of a number of people who had his phoneline cut off by the cable thieves.
The senator, who worked for Eircom for 20 years, said that he believed the gangs involved were organised and were exporting the valuable copper to Britain.
“It is costing Eircom a lot of money,” he said.
“There is also another drawback. They often burn the plastic off the copper core which is very harmful to the environment.”
Eircom said it cost about €10,000 to replace the cable stolen from Johnswell.
The spokesman for the company said: “All Eircom employees carry ID. It is not common to see our people working at night unless they are restoring lines because of a gale or the like.
“If people see something they think is suspicious they should immediately contact the gardaí who can check it with us.”
Last March, Eircom had a number of its cast-iron manhole covers stolen in the Greater Dublin area.
Earlier in the year the company also had some cables stolen in Carlow, Kilkenny and Donegal, which cost it about €250,000 to replace.
Meanwhile, metal thieves have struck again in Co Donegal — stripping over a dozen houses of wiring and boilers.
The thieves struck at a recently built housing estate in Dungloe last weekend.
They took the boilers, valued at almost €10,000, from 13 unoccupied homes.
The gang stripped the doors off kitchen units to transport the boilers across a boggy field and into a waiting getaway van.
In recent months metal road signs and even bronze sculptures have been stolen in the Munster area by thieves who sell on the metal, which is believed to ultimately end up in China and India.
