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.