“First I saw the footprints on the carpet; then I saw the broken glass and I just thought: ‘Oh s**t,’” says Clare.
The scene in the bedrooms confirmed her Dublin home had been broken into.
“It was obvious they were looking for a cash, jewellery. They were in and out; they didn’t even seem to go downstairs,” she says.
Clare’s discovery of her home burglary on her return from a family holiday has lingered in her mind many months later.
“I was very nervous in the house after that. We got cameras in, an alarm system. It was horrible, really. It’s one of my worst nightmares to wake up and somebody’s in the house. So I was saying to myself: ‘Thank God I wasn’t there at the time’.
“But to have someone going through your drawers, where you keep your private stuff ... They rifled through all that. It makes me very nervous being in the house on my own now, even with the alarm.”
A couple of months later, a burglar broke into her elderly neighbour’s house; the octogenarian fled when he realised an intruder was upstairs.
[ Burglaries and kidnappings rise, homicides and drug offences fallOpens in new window ]
The investigation into the burglary at her own home – in which she lost some modestly valued necklaces and a handbag – appeared to go nowhere. This was despite Garda scenes-of-crime personnel being dispatched to the house, in a middle-class suburb of Dublin, at the time.
And though gardaí were alerted to the burglary at her neighbour’s home as it was in progress, the intruder escaped.
Some of these guys get addicted to it; flying around the country in cars in the middle of the night, robbing, terrorising people and being pursued [by gardaí]. They get their kicks out of it
— Garda detective
“The local Garda station is only a few minutes away but they took over an hour to respond,” Clare said.
Gardaí say there are, broadly speaking, two types of burglar: one an opportunist, often looking for money to feed a drugs habit; the others work in groups, with the sophistication of organised drugs gangs.
One cell of a burglary gang will select a target and conduct surveillance, before passing on the information they have gathered to accomplices who execute the crime. These accomplices travel in stolen or imported high-powered vehicles – with cloned registration plates. They often hit several targets in a cluster on the same night before fleeing via the motorway network, at times driving very long distances back to their home base.
“There is a money element to most of these crimes,” said one detective. “But some of these guys get addicted to it; flying around the country in cars in the middle of the night, robbing, terrorising people and being pursued [by gardaí]. They get their kicks out of it.”
This concept of recreational burglaries – chaotic violent crime as a lifestyle – has become evident at the funerals of Dublin men known for their involvement in burglaries during their lifetimes. In one case a screwdriver and torch, burglars' work tools, were carried to the altar. A sign held by mourners read: “You know the score, get on the floor; don’t be funny, give me the money.”
When the latest crime trends in the Republic were published this week, one concerning development was a 10 per cent increase in burglaries in the 12-month period to the end of last September. Data for the last three months of 2024 is not yet available.
Any double-digit jump in crime over a 12-month period is a cause for concern within the Garda. When it’s a high-volume crime such as burglary, which instils fear in communities across the State, that worry is heightened.
“You will come under pressure in any part of the country for property crime; cars being stolen, big increases in shoplifting, burglaries. You’ll hear about it; people kick up,” said one Garda source.
“But home burglaries is the big one. The home is supposed to be sacred, the private place. And when someone breaches that, people feel it far more than [the value of] anything taken. It’s a violation.”
A burglary is legally defined as any unlawful trespass on to a property with the intent to commit an offence. That includes private dwellings, but also other buildings such as shops and offices, caravans and even occupied tents.
In some parts of the State about a third of burglaries involve the targeting of non-residential dwellings, according to sources, though there is no detailed data available of the split between residential and commercial burglaries.
Though the 10 per cent increase in burglaries – to 9,981 recorded crimes – is an unwelcome development, it is still a long way off pre-pandemic burglary levels. And the increase in the 12 months to the end of last September is nowhere near the worse time 15 years ago when burglaries peaked at 26,724 break-ins in 2009.
The Garda launched Operation Thor, to target burglary gangs, in 2015. Gardaí believe that, as the State had begun to recover properly from the economic crash by that point, many homeowners were able to invest more in home security. This includes CCTV, doorbell cameras, alarms, external lighting and much more secure front doors with multi-locking systems that are impossible to penetrate.
A lot of these guys will have big jail coming up because so many of then have charges against them after those operations. Yes, some of them are on bail so they still offending. But we’ve had a lot of ‘days of action’, a lot of arrests and a lot of charges
— Garda source
By 2019, the number of burglaries had dropped to 16,140. That declined further during the pandemic when more homes were occupied more of the time. There were 8,146 burglaries in 2021, a historic low and 70 per cent down on the peak of 2009.
But as lockdowns were lifted and more people returned to workplaces, burglaries crept back up, to 9,019 in 2023. The number will likely be to closer to 10,000 in 2024 when data for the final quarter of the year becomes available in the coming weeks.
Garda sources point to significant developments towards the end of last year that drove down burglaries in the final three months of 2024, not captured by the crime figures released this week by the CSO. These developments involved charging several key organised burglary gang members after big operations.
These Garda “days of action” have involved between 100 and 200 gardaí, often travelling in large convoys of vehicles. They move in and search a large number of properties at the same time, backed by the Armed Support Unit because the targets are dangerous criminals.
Large Garda search teams also facilitate the comprehensive, and safe, searching of complex target areas, such as halting sites. After several operations late last year sources said the burglary rate in December, for example, was at a five-year low.
“These gangs are prolific and they always have been,” said one source, adding that recent key targets were based in Tallaght, Finglas and Coolock in Dublin as well as in Carlow, Meath and Limerick.
In one of the recent operations, a Dublin-based gang was targeted by gardaí in connection with dozens of burglaries as far from the capital as Mayo, Roscommon, Longford and Sligo.
“A lot of these guys will have big jail coming up because so many of then have charges against them after those operations last year,” said the source. “Yes, some of them are on bail so they still offending. But we’ve had a lot of ‘days of action’, a lot of arrests and a lot of charges.
“And you’ll see those being picked off with big sentences later this year, depending on what the judges decide, of course.”
How should you protect your home from burglaries?
Homeowners need to focus on what they could do to deter burglars from choosing their home to target, or at least slow them down during any attempt, says Sgt Mark Bolger of the Garda National Crime Prevention Unit.
So-called “smart bulb” lights can be turned on via phone apps when a homeowner is out, he says.
“You want to make your house look occupied, so even leave a radio on or use a TV flicker box – a light that mimics the effect of a TV in a room; it creates that glow.”
Sgt Bolger says the front door of a property is still the most common mode of entry, with burglars often shouldering a door open. As a result, ensuring the front door area is well lit, or installing composite doors with multi-point locking systems, can deter and halt would-be burglars.
All windows and doors should be locked properly at night and homeowners should do a lap of their home before going to bed making sure it is secured. Alarms are advisable. Side and back gates should be of good quality and secure, while sheds should be locked.
“The reality is, they’ll probably get into your shed,” says Sgt Bolger.
“But if it’s locked, you’re slowing them down. The more time they spend trying to get in, the risk starts to outweigh the reward.”
While CCTV “is great, it’s often up in the eaves” and the footage it generates, from above, rarely captures the faces of burglars.
“But a video doorbell will actually catch somebody at eye level,” he says. “So if they do have a hood up, there’s still a good possibility you’ll get a good facial shot.”
Many camera doorbells now allow homeowners to see, and communicate with, callers to their home via phone apps. However, Sgt Bolger says any such interactions should be treated with extreme care. They may reveal to a burglar posing as a delivery man, or an eavesdropping burglar, that the property is empty.
“You should just tell them you can’t come to the door now because you’re upstairs at a Zoom meeting or changing the baby ... any excuse, without giving out the information you’re not actually at home.”
Sgt Bolger says burglars are mostly looking for cash and jewellery, followed by games consoles and other electronic items, including laptops and phones.
Very expensive items should be secured and large amounts of cash should never be stored at home.
