Posting photos of known shoplifters and slapping ASBOs on ‘feral’ youth terrorising retailers are needed to combat the current wave of abuse, criminality, and harassment that shopkeepers across the country are dealing with, according to an industry spokesman.
Vincent Jennings, CEO of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA) said he would like to see a similar name and shame campaign that is used in Northern Ireland to expose shoplifters and other petty criminals used here to combat the scourge of anti-social behaviour directed at retailers.
Speaking on RTE One’s Prime Time programme on Tuesday night, he said ” there is a very real problem. It is soul-destroying. We need zero tolerance.”
The current affairs programme highlighted the problem of out-of-control youths and children who are shoplifting, hurling racist abuse and physically threatening and intimidating shop staff in supermarkets and corner shops around the country.
CSNA member Shane Gleeson, who runs five Spar shops in Limerick city, told RTE: “I’ve had a bottle of wine broken and been threatened with the broken glass. I’ve had guys with needles. My son was threatened with a knife.”