THREE BOYS, arrested by gardai in Co Kerry after the robbery of a farmhouse outside Ventry, Co Kerry, are aged only 10, 11 and 12, it emerged yesterday.
They are among the youngest ever arrested for such a serious crime. An estimated £15,000 in cash, taken from the farmhouse was recovered by gardai.
Two of the boys, the 10 and 12 year old, are sons of a man who was also arrested by gardai and whose address was given as the "Halting Site", Tallaght, Dublin. The third boy, the 11 year old, is a cousin of the other two.
Gardai were uncertain about what will happen to the boys. They were held in custody briefly along with the man before being released into the care of their families. A file is being prepared for the DPP.
According to gardai, the group arrived in Ventry on Saturday evening in a English registered red Toyota Hi ace van.
The farmer was in the house at about 8.30 p.m., and saw two of the three boys running away. He alerted local gardai.
A short time later Garda Gerry Quinlan, from Castlegregory and Garda Aiden Smith, from Camp stopped the van and arrested the man and children. The man appeared before Tralee District Court yesterday.
Gardai are concerned that robberies of the elderly on isolated farms is again on the increase.
After a spate of robberies, in which one farmer was killed in Galway and several others injured, the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen directed a major Garda checkpoint operation.
This has had to be scaled down with the ending of the IRA ceasefire and the Border checkpoint operation to stop the smuggling of BSE infected cattle.