Mind your house – Galway Gardaí warn after spate of site thefts

GARDAÍ in Galway are to write out to 2015 planning permission applicants advising them of security measures they should consider, in a bid to combat a spate of thefts from houses under construction and on building sites.

Roaming gangs over recent months have targeted partially constructed houses in different parts of the county, but especially across a stretch of north-east Galway, stealing goods and equipment worth tens of thousands of euro.

Stoves, radiators, bathroom equipment, doors, locks, copper piping, lead, paint and builders’ tools have been stolen by the gangs who target unsecured partially constructed properties.

Galway Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Pat Flanagan, said that the Gardaí were in the process of making written contact with all planning permission applicants from January 1, 2015.

“We will be writing to them first and foremost to make them aware of the importance of not leaving valuable materials unsecured in a house or site that is not occupied.

“There are three basic options we will be asking them to consider: secure and lock all windows and doors; have an exterior light on the site and, if possible, put an alarm system in place,” said Sgt. Flanagan.

He warned that the plumbing material alone for a new house could cost anything up to €15,000 and advised that this shouldn’t be moved on site, until the plumbers are there and ‘ready to go’.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.