There's a call for judges to get tough on low-level crime after a Dublin city councillor had his electric bike stolen.
Labour's Dermot Lacey says he had locked up the bike at Barnardo Square, close to city hall, before discovering it was taken on Monday evening.
He says a number of bikes were taken at the same time;
"A tourist came up to me and said in very broken English something about your bike. She had seen children stealing bikes. My own guess to be honest with you is a number of them were stolen and that they're in a van and probably in a container somewhere off the coast of Ireland at this stage."
The public rep says he worked hard to pay for the electric bike, and if caught, those responsible will probably get off with a scolding.
came out of @DubCityCouncil meeting tonight and some ......... had stolen my ebike. I really hate thieves. I had worked hard to pay for it..and if caught some Judge will probably scold them at best. sick of it.
— Cllr Dermot Lacey (@LaceyDermot) October 3, 2022
In response to the Twitter post, users have shared their experiences of having bikes stolen in the capital and have called for more secure parking stations to be installed across the city.
Figures released by Gardaí earlier this year show 6,845 bikes were recorded stolen between January 2020 and April 23rd this year. Over 70 per cent of the bikes were taken in Dublin.
