asked the Minister for Justice the estimated total value of property stolen in Ireland in 1985; the value and percentage of this property which was recovered; and the plans he has to curtail the unprecedented trade in stolen electrical equipment, jewellery and other goods.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Stolen Property.
25.
The provisional estimate of the value of property stolen in 1985 is £31,165,310, of which property to the value of £2,664,983, or 8.6 per cent has been recovered.
The total amount stolen last year is down by almost 10 per cent compared with 1984. The figures for watches-jewellery are down by 14 per cent and for radios-TV recorders by 20 per cent. It is hoped that the indelible marking of property by its owners, which is an integral part of the neighbourhood watch scheme, will become more widespread as the scheme is extended, thereby increasing the chances of recovering stolen property.
I asked the Minister what measures he was taking to deal with this situation because we are still faced with a recovery figure of 8.6 per cent. In relation to silver in particular, is the Minister aware that definite steps were taken previously whereby people who dealt in gold and silver had to be licensed and that up to very recently, police lists of stolen property were circulated to those who dealt in gold and silver. Does the Minister agree that these precautions have now been dropped and that they should be reinstituted to exercise tight controls on the movement of property? Would he also consider introducing a Bill to deal with the handling of stolen goods?
We have specialised units within the serious crime squad in the Garda which deal with thefts of jewellery, drug related crimes and other serious crimes and the resources made available by the Garda for detection of these crimes are the maximum of what can be made available. I do not know what specific controls the Deputy has in mind.
That concludes Question Time.