50% of Irish business hit by crime
Up to half of all Irish businesses have been hit by some form of crime in the past 12 months, according to a survey carried out by the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association.
The worst-affected sector was retail, while the highest levels of crime against businesses were recorded in Leinster.
The ISME survey found that crime costs Irish business an estimated €1.9bn each year.
ISME said offences like vandalism and theft were increasing pressure on firms already struggling to meet rising costs.
The biggest impact of crime was to increase insurance costs. 58% of those who took part in the survey said that they saw their premiums rise last year.
Three-quarters of respondents (74%) said that they had reported criminal activity against their business in the last 12 months to the gardai.
However, 42% indicated that they had a lack of faith in the gardai’s response with 36% indicating that they felt that the criminal would not be charged.
A lack of confidence in the state's ability to deal with crime is outlined in the fact that only one in ten respondents are convinced that the perpetrator of a crime would be apprehended.
ISME have outlined a number of proposals they feel should be adopted to counter criminal activity.
These include an extra 2,000 gardai on the street and the inclusion of Business Parks and Industrial Estates as a constituency for policing in their own right.
They also called for a "dramatic increase" of CCTV surveillance particularly in town centres as this had been a proven deterrent to business crime in the past.
Overall the most common crime reported by companies was "Theft by Outsiders" at 49% followed by "Burglary" 35% with both "Vandalism" and "Damage to Vehicles" having been experienced by 31% of respondents.
16% of companies also reported incidents of theft by members of staff.
The report entitled "The Extent, Impact & Cost of Crime on SMEs in Ireland" was published today.
