The level of crime suffered by Irish business has increased by 10 per cent and crime now costs £775 million (€984 million) a year. The third National Small Business Crime Survey has found that almost half of all businesses were victims of crime in the past 12 months, with the theft of stock, cash, property and credit card fraud all increasing.

The average cost per incident is now £2,181, which is an increase of 34 per cent on 1997. This equates to a direct cost of £181 million, but when security costs of £593 million are taken into account the total cost of crime and its prevention runs to £775 million.

A large part of the burden falls on retailers, according to Mr Pat Delaney, the director of the Small Firms Association, which carried out the survey. Retailers are especially vulnerable and find themselves spending large sums of money on security. The use of hidden cameras has increased by 600 per cent since 1997, he said.

Business people are also increasingly being targeted in their home. Some 27 per cent of respondents said they had experienced violent crime outside their business premises.