Burglars take €60m in year

Almost €60m has been stolen from Irish homes in the last year, it emerged today.

A new survey revealed burglaries cost households a total of €58m in the 12 months between June 2003 and June 2004, an 11.5% increase on last year.

The 2004 Burglary Report found goods with an average value of just under €3,600 were taken from each home burgled, although the overall number of burglaries decreased by 17.8% from last year.

However, with the exception of last year’s increase, the trend for burglaries over the last three years has remained downward, according to the 2004 eircom PhoneWatch Burglary Report, the country’s most comprehensive annual report of burglaries.

Dublin remains the most burgled area in the country, accounting for 37% of all burglaries, despite having decreased by 26% since 2003.

This figure rises to 51% when Dublin is combined with the surrounding counties of Kildare, Wicklow and Meath.

However, even with an overall decrease of 12%, counties outside Dublin now account for 63% of all burglaries in Ireland, an increase of over 5% on the same period last year.

Limerick is the most burgled county outside Dublin, accounting for almost 11% of all burglaries outside Dublin, while the most likely day of the week to be burgled is Friday at 16% with Monday being the least likely at less than 13%.

The report also revealed 73% of the homes burgled had no alarm system.

A recent study revealed that 31% of households now have an alarm system installed in their residence, 10% of which are monitored systems, while over 21% are unmonitored.

Nick Quigley, Chief Executive of eircom PhoneWatch, said households are becoming more security conscious.

“We welcome this trend and any measures that make it more difficult for the burglar to strike,” he said.

“In order to keep households protected, eircom PhoneWatch ask people to ensure that their burglar alarm is being used properly – the burglary report indicates that in houses burgled with alarms fitted, over 85% of the burglar alarms were not switched on or being used properly.”

The eircom PhoneWatch Burglary Report was conducted by the OSG Group, the country’s leading loss adjuster, based on a sample of more than 11,309 household insurance claims.