Rising retail theft is damaging the profitability of shops across the State and increasing prices for consumers, TDs and Senators heard on Wednesday.
Tara Buckley, the director general of industry group Retail Grocery Dairy & Allied Trades Association of Ireland (Rgdata) told the Oireachtas committee on enterprise that such theft “represents a direct hit to the bottom line”.
The director general of Rgdata, which represents more than 3,000 independent grocery retailers in the Republic, said retail theft “costs a medium-sized grocery store up to €100,000″ every year.
“Where do you have to get that €100,000 from? You have to put your prices up, and we don’t want to do that,” she said, explaining that the cost of theft is transferred on to the prices paid by customers.
READ MORE
“We have a significant problem with retail crime in this country,” Ms Buckley said, noting that retailers are forced to invest in security, CCTV, staff and training as a result but still see “a huge amount of shrinkage in their stores due to retail theft”.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office earlier this year, showed that shop thefts rose by nearly half, 47 per cent, in the past 10 years. In the first quarter of the year, more than 8,000 incidents of such theft were reported to Gardaí.
David McWilliams on how ‘big incentives’ to build could save Dublin city
Rgdata member Yvonne O’Meara and managing director of O’Meara’s SuperValu said that retail crime is a “big issue” in the State. “It is not people who cannot afford to put food on the table, it is criminal gangs that are coming in and stealing to order.”
Paul Gogarty TD asked the retailers if they would like security staff to be given the power to “detain people pending the gardaí being called” as opposed to the current situation in which “you can’t lay a finger on someone”, also suggesting the implementation of a community court system.
“I think all of those suggestions that you’re talking about will be, and should be, examined by the Retail Crime Task Force,” Ms Buckley said, suggesting “every element” of this crime has to be examined to come to a solution.
The retailers called for increased Garda presence on the streets, and for faster processing of shoplifting incidents, “at the moment, the system doesn’t work. We need a better system.”
The representatives expressed concerns about the difficulty in stopping retail theft due to the rise in retail defamation, with people taking defamation suits in response to being asked for a receipt, which is said to represent a rising cost for businesses.
The Rgdata representatives noted that the cost of these cases can amount to between €30,000 to €50,000 even when successfully defended.
