Neighbours in Clare save homes from would-be looters

Neighbours living in a flooded community in Clare have helped to detect two men who were on their way to rob evacuated homes in a stolen army boat.

The inflatable Defence Forces dinghy was stolen from a farmhouse in Springfield, Clonlara, about 8pm on Sunday night.

The men were eventually cut off by two locals in another boat, as the thieves crossed a flooded field on their way towards unoccupied homes left vacant by families evacuated from the area. The two would-be robbers escaped and the boat was returned to the army.