‘Scrap metal trade needs examination’ – O’Donovan

Added December 20th, 2011

Following approaches by a number of constituents from across County Limerick, Deputy Patrick O’Donovan has asked the Minister for Justice and Equality to examine some elements of the scrap metal trade.

In a Parliamentary Question submitted to Alan Shatter TD, O’Donovan asks if the Minister has “considered proposals to assist in the regulation of the scrap metal industry, specifically regulations that would deal with theft.” Deputy O’Donovan submitted the question after a number of constituents highlighted their concerns to him about an increase in the theft of expensive metals across Limerick.

“I had noticed – along with many others – that there had been more and more reports about copper and other metals being stolen from homes and businesses. Houses in unoccupied estates have been particularly targeted as well as sites where there has been large scale development involving cabling. I had even heard about boiler tanks being taken from people’s homes. It’s obvious that in the cases where the metals are being robbed that they are often being sold on again at a good price,” said O’Donovan this Monday.

“The scrap metal trade is an important local industry for the Limerick area and one which provides many jobs to the County. However it is open to being exploited by criminals unfortunately and this is something which needs to be tackled. As it stands, anyone can turn up with metal at a scrap yard and get paid for whatever they bring in without having to account for where they got it.

“I think it would be worthwhile looking into the possibility of introducing supports which would bring a greater degree of accountability to the process. This needn’t be something that would hurt the business in any way either. I’m not for a minute suggesting that we have additional bureaucracy that would impede the operation of a business. In fact, it would be essential that any proposed legislation would protect the owners of the scrap businesses.

“Of course one of the most important elements of tackling this kind of criminal behaviour is the cooperation of the local community and I would encourage anyone who witnesses this or any other kind of theft to contact the Gardai,” O’Donovan finished.