Crime figures show sanctions are too weak

Paddy Lyons, the 90-year-old Waterford farmer who was beaten to death in his isolated home, was buried this week.

A single man, he lived alone and, like any person of his age, he was hardly in a position to defend himself. He was not the first elderly person targetted because he lived in a remote place. Nor, unfortunately, will he be the last.

Just last month, the High Court heard that a Tipperary farmer, also living alone in an isolated area felt so threatened that he gave more than €83,000 over a number of years to a gang that purported to do farm work such as painting sheds or installing closed-circuit television.