TREE THIEVES TARGETTED

WHENEVER the seasonal spirit makes its appearance, it would appear the Christmas Grinch is never too far behind.

That’s according to the Irish Christmas Tree Growers Association (ICTGA), which has welcomed the return of a garda initiative aimed at preventing the theft of trees from farms across the country.

Spokesman Dermot Page said the association said the Christmas tree industry was worth an estimated €21 million annually to the Irish economy.

He said that demand for real Christmas trees is growing each year, with an estimated 350,000 purchased in 2015, a number the association believes is set to increase to more than 400,000 this year.

“Many growers have already begun harvesting their crop to get supply ready for export. This work will intensify in the next week with growers working flat out to meet deadlines to ensure an adequate supply of trees are available for the domestic market by the beginning of December,” said Mr Page.

“The recent cold snap has been ideal for harvest, which involves cutting trees and leaving them on the ground for at least two days to allow them to ‘close down’ before being netted.”

However, the increasing demand for real trees is too much of an opportunity for some unscrupulous opportunists to ignore, something that Mr Page said had been the “scourge” of the industry in the past.

Following an incident in Wicklow three years ago during which a grower was tied up at his home and robbed, gardai commenced Operation Hurdle to specifically target tree thieves.

“Since there has been a dramatic reduction in thefts and we welcome the fact that gardai will once again be running the operation this year. This is a really positive move. The support of the gardai, combined with improved tagging systems and security measures at farms have made a huge difference,” said Mr Page.

“We are appealing to all growers, and indeed the public, to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity near Christmas tree farms over the coming weeks,” he added.