This article is from page 40 of the 2009-07-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 40 JPG
A MAJOR survey issued today by ISME, the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association, confirms that one third of business in Ireland has been the target of criminal activ- ity over the last 12 months. The sur- vey of over 1,800 businesses outlines that while the level of crime is down on the previous year (when 35 per cent of companies were affected), there has been an increase in the ac- tual cost of criminal activity, which is costing the business community €1.5bn in direct costs.
The highest incidence of crime is in Connaught/Ulster at 37 per cent, while the incidence of crime in Dub- lin County has shown a dramatic reduction down to 24 per cent from 43 per cent in 2008. Dublin City and Munster both showed an increase.
aber tee vem KeU One mortaelele lar problem, showing a large increase from 44 per cent in 2008 to a high 63 per cent this year. This compares to 26 per cent for manufacturing com- panies, 25 per cent construction and 28 per cent for service and 32 per cent distribution companies. “Theft by outsiders’ reported by 36 per cent
of respondents was the most com- mon form of crime.
78 per cent of all respondents iden- tified crime as being a problem in their area, while companies affected by crime experienced more than one instance of crime in the last 12 months.
The direct cost of criminal activity for SMEs is estimated at €472m per annum or €5,890 per company. This figure increases dramatically when added to the €957m or €3,937 spent per company on crime prevention methods including alarms, C.C.TV, security guards etc.
The indirect costs of crime cannot be underestimated, 25 per cent of SMEs who suffered from criminal activity identified disruption to trad- ing as being a particular problem with 15 per cent indicating that crime led to “poor staff morale’.Only 7 per cent of business owners are confident that criminals would be apprehended.
The use of alarms remains the pri- mary weapon for crime prevention, with 73 per cent of companies hav- ing an alarm on their premises. This was followed by 48 per cent who use alarm response and 47 per cent CCTV.