Vandalism

In a story reported in the Argus, Paraic McKevitt, who is rumoured to be running for the Green Party in the upcoming County Council elections, complained about a recent spate of vandalism in Greenore village: "Residents in Greenore woke last Thursday morning to find that shrubs which had been planted at the entrance to the village's famous golf course had been pulled up by vandals." This kind of petty vandalism is increasingly a feature, not just of the big towns in Louth, but increasingly the smaller towns and villages. "People have put in a lot of time and effort to try and improve the appearance of the village so it's very disappointing when something like this happens," said McKevitt.

This theme was taken up by the Lordship and Cooley Community Alert AGM in a previous item in the Dundalk Democrat: "High on the agenda is the ongoing concern on crime in the area and the continuing efforts to counteract it. Chairman of the group Kevin Conroy said "As recent reports in the press indicate, there are few signs that the problem is being resolved. Indeed, many crimes both petty and otherwise are not even being reported" he added. " Indeed failure to report and highlight these petty crimes and anti-social behavior is often the cause for their perpetrators to graduate to bigger crimes as they grow older.

We can expect more of this kind of thing as the economy continues to decline. According to a piece in the well respected OpEd News: "Around the world, law enforcement officials and sociologists are closely watching the current economy-driven rise in crime. Domestic violence, robbery, theft and murder are rising, as people fail to cope with job loss, repossession and uncertainty. In Ireland, as in the United States, economic problems are generating a fertile field for domestic violence. "