A NEWLY formed committee is to seek early meetings with the Minister for Justice, Ms Owen, and the Garda to discuss measures to deal with rural crime.
Mr Frank Allen, president of the ICMSA, asked yesterday what good was the highest economic growth rate in Europe if people in rural Ireland were living in fear.
The ICSMA assembled eight national organisations yesterday in Dublin to form the National Awareness Security Committee. They include the Irish Countrywomen's Association, the Irish Farmers' Association, Macra na Feirme, Muintir na Tire, Rural Resettlement and the Church of Ireland.
The GAA "and the Catholic Church could not attend because of short notice, Mr Allen said, but they sent messages of support.
Mr Allen, who lives about 15 miles from the murdered Tipperary farmer, Mr Daniel Fanning, said the Government was responsible for the security of the State and it could not be allowed to abrogate that responsibility.
"Marauding gangs with excellent intelligence are targeting rural Ireland," said Mr Allen.
The Government would have to take several measures to deal with the problem.
The first was to deploy more gardai in rural communities. This would deter criminals and increase the chances of catching them if they committed a crime, he added.
The second was to introduce more flexibility in the social welfare system. Some old people, said Mr Allen, kept money in their houses because they feared losing benefits if the money bore interest in a bank or post office or a credit union. The limits of interest income affecting the payment of benefits were far too rigid, he said.
As for the penal system, if a person was sentenced to imprisonment, they should serve that term, said Mr Allen. The organisations represented on the committee "simply did not know" if any one section of the community was particularly to blame for the attacks on people in rural areas.