Report shows €50m taken in year of burglaries

More than €50 million worth of goods, including €10 million in cash, was stolen during burglaries in Irish houses in the year ending last June, a survey published today says.

The report, which says Irish burglaries have increased by 2.3 per cent between June 2001 and June 2002, finds that six out of ten break-ins take place while people are at home.

The Eircom Phonewatch study finds that Dublin remains the area with the highest burlary rate in the country accounting for 43 per cent of all burglaries, while the greater Dublin area including counties Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Meath accounts for 60.3 per cent of all burglaries.

However, while burglaries in Dublin over the study period remained largely unchanged, burglaries in Cork increased from 8.5 per cent to 14.6 per cent of all burglaries outside the Dublin area.

Kerry, Limerick and Meath also showed increases in the number of burglaries taking place, while Galway, Waterford and Louth have all experienced fewer burglaries in the past year.

Within Dublin, the Northside of the city accounts for 39 per cent of burglaries while the Southside accounts for 61 per cent.

The areas least likely to be burgled in Dublin are Dublin 17 (Darndale, Balgriffin, Clonshaugh) and Dublin 1 (O'Connell Street, Dorset Street, Mountjoy Square, and Parnell Square).

The report, also reveals that an average value of more than €4,000 was taken from each home burgled. This equates to more than €50 million worth of goods stolen from residential households in Ireland in the twelve months between June 2001 - June 2002. Of this, almost €10 million in cash was stolen from residential households during the period.

According to the report, the most vulnerable residences in Ireland are semi-detached and detached houses, which account for six out of 10 burglaries

According to the report six in 10 burglaries take place while people are in the home while the most likely time of the day to be burgled is between noon and 4pm (22 per cent) and between midnight and 4am (22 per cent). The most popular day of the week for burglaries is Friday (18 per cent) with Sunday being the least popular day (less than 12 per cent).

The areas recording the least number of burglaries are Counties Leitrim, Offaly, Roscommon and Longford, each of which accounts for less than 1 per cent of all burglaries outside the Dublin area. Wicklow is the most burgled county outside of Dublin, accounting for 15 per cent of all burglaries outside the Dublin area;

The report was conducted by the Farrell Group based on a sample of more than 16,000 household insurance claims in the twelve months between June 1st, 2001 and June 1st, 2002.