Retail Ireland urge gardaí to focus on black market

Retail Ireland is calling for more gardaí to tackle retail crime and the black market.

A new report published this morning by the group has found that crime in these areas is costing the exchequer €860m a year.

Retail Ireland says this is in turn costing the tax-payer in the long run.

Chairman of the group, Frank Gleeson, says if theft can be reduced then retailers can reduce their prices: "There's an excellent garda report that was published in 2011 and we're looking for the recommendations in that to be implemented in full.

"Greater co-operation with gardaí is required to deal with this matter, which is costing retailers a lot of money and ultimately costing consumers.

"It's all going into the price of the goods so if we can get a reduction in shop lifting and theft we can ultimately give better prices to consumers."