Traffic light thieves target Minister’s car

March 1997

Wexford’s Environment Minister Brendan Howlin and his Dáil colleague Hugh Byrne both learned first-hand about Dublin crime recently, when property was robbed from both their cars by traffic light thieves.

Last Sunday, Minister Howlin and his Garda driver had stopped at traffic lights at Poplar Row in Ballybough, when two young thieves targeted the car at 6.30 p.m.

One of the youths opened the back door of the Volvo when the car stopped, while the other grabbed a jacket belonging to the Garda chauffeur, and ran.

The driver immediately jumped out of the car and chased the culprits, who dropped the jacket as they ran away. No-one has been apprehended in relation to the incident, which has been reported to Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station.

It is believed that the spot where the incident took place is a notorious crime blackspot.

Meanwhile, Deputy Hugh Byrne had a similar experience recently when he was on his way to Dublin Airport to meet a funeral.

According to Deputy Byrne, he and Michael Joyce, who was driving his car, had just crossed the toll bridge on the East Link when they had to stop at traffic lights beside a block of flats.

‘We were just commenting on the appalling condition of the flats when the door opened behind us and a youth grabbed a jacket out of the car,’ said Deputy Byrne, who added that the youth was no more than 13 years of age.

After the youth had grabbed the jacket, Deputy Byrne heard another youth tell him to go back and get the briefcase which was also in the back of the car.

‘With that, I locked the doors,’ he said, adding that the youths went back into the block of flats.

Deputy Byrne said that he had heard of such incidents in Dublin but had never experienced it before. He also noted that traffic light crime has turned even more sinister, with thieves throwing rats into cars in an effort to startle drivers before they make off with property.

‘When people told me about these robberies, I thought they were joking. But my car will be locked from now on,’ he said. deal was concluded following weeks of negotiation between the agency and local auctioneering firm, Kehoe & Associates.

Under the lease agreement, the EPA will take over 10,000 sq. ft. of office space in the former ABS Technology building. They will occupy the reception area, a substantial amount of the ground floor, and all of the first floor.

It is understood that the lease is for a threeyear period, during which time the EPA will be looking for a site to construct a purpose-built office block as near as possible to the town centre.

Approximately 30 staff will come to Wexford later this month, but it is expected that up to 80 people, including scientists and economists, will be working with the EPA in the future.

Eight of the staff being re-located at the Ardcavan headquarters originally hail from County Wexford, including director Marie Sherwood, who says the staff are happy to return to their home county.

‘Originally from the four corners of the county, one could say that they are being repatriated,’ she remarked.

The EPA was formally established in July of last year, and has been operating from premises in Dublin. It has a wide range of powers and functions, including responsibility for licensing and controlling activities which carry a serious risk of environmental pollution, such as big agricultural enterprises. and two burials on one day, up to the 8th of March – meaning nine burials in eight days. This is compared to just three burials in the entire month of March last year.

Deaths in January of this year also showed an increase on the same month last year, with an even more dramatic rise taking place between 1984 and 1985.

Eighteen people were buried at Crosstown in January this year; fourteen last January; and just four in January 1984.

Sheila Mulligan, who runs an undertakers business with her husband Paddy at The Faythe, has confirmed the increase in the number of deaths in the town.

‘There certainly is a big increase in the number of burials. We have noticed it all right.’ Wexford Park was granted.

And renovations of the county’s main GAA ground will commence in the near future, after it first plays host to the opening Church and General National Hurling League game between All-Ireland champions Wexford and Galway on Sunday March 9.

The good news came less than 24 hours after the launch of the fifth Model County Development members’ draw by Liam Griffin on Thursday night last.

Six draws are planned again this year: on April 24, May 29, June 26, July 31, August 28, and September 25.

There is a choice of car for the winner of the April, May, July and September draws. June and August winners will get £5,000.