Rural ATM Robberies Not A Victimless Crime, Says Retail Excellence Boss

By Donna Ahern
Rural ATM Robberies Not A Victimless Crime, Says Retail Excellence Boss

Referring to the eight ATM robberies involving diggers and trailers that have been perpetrated on both sides of the Irish border so far in 2019, David Fitzsimons, CEO of Retail Excellence has said, that this 'is emphatically not a victimless crime'.

"Such criminal activities bring people face-to-face with organised crime or terrorism," Fitzwilliams said.

These are clearly dangerous people that don’t care about property damage or the effect that their activities have on people. The danger is that the digger will be set alight at a filling station, putting neighbouring homes and businesses at peril."

'Bracing Themselves'

Irish retailers in border counties have told Retail Excellence, Ireland’s largest retail representation body, that they are bracing themselves for more in the recent spate of ATM thefts, outlined the group that protects the industry in a statement.

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The group highlighted that 11 in the last 12 months, towns such as Monaghan and Cavan have been targeted.

“It seems that we are hearing of another ATM theft almost on a daily basis at this stage, of another business targeted and destroyed, and vital services taken away on which many local people rely," David Fitzsimons, CEO of Retail Excellence said.

"These criminals are physically gouging out huge holes in banks and filling stations, but they’re also tearing apart dependent businesses and retailers."

Local Damage 

Fitzwilliam said that without doubt, this spate of robberies puts the viability of retail at risk at a particularly difficult time.

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“We’re talking about an estimated €70,000 taken from one ATM robbery, the impact of which is to take money out of consumers’ wallets," he added.

"You can be sure that there’ll be little shopping done the following day in the local town, spend on discretionary items will be down, and coffee shops will be quiet."

© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.

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