Sir, – Last summer, after some involuntary home improvement works had been enforced upon me, I took a large copper hot-water cylinder and other sundry metal items along to a scrapyard where, without a single word being passed between me and any of the staff there, I exchanged them for cash. And that is the real story behind your headline "Thieves of ESB Networks leave death traps behind them" (News, January 25th).
It is utterly incomprehensible that the scrap-metal business is still carried on in this way. This perfectly explains why ESB Networks, Iarnród Éireann and many other organisations are regularly targeted by thieves who, as well as lining their pockets, expose innocent civilians to possible electrocution or rail accidents.
The idea that someone can exchange a 50kg chunk of copper, clearly melted down from its earlier form, without identification or explanation, for a wad of banknotes is beyond belief. As your report outlines, the damage done to infrastructure during these thefts, plus the lives put in peril, are the real cost, along with power outages and train cancellations.
If I buy a bunch of carrots in Galway’s Saturday market, I can pay the stallholder two or three euro by contactless card. Why can scrap-dealers not insist on doing business this way where the seller is easily traceable? Either that, or have the Government legislate for this method.
One suspects there’d be a lot less copper and brass being traded as a result. – Yours, etc,
LIAM STENSON,
Galway.