Man arrested in relation to cable theft in Louth and other counties

Gardaí have arrested a man in his 30s as part of an ongoing investigation into the theft of telephone cable in the Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath areas.

He is currently detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at a Garda station in the North Western Region. Gardaí say investigations into the matter are ongoing.

An Garda Síochána had made an appeal earlier this year for information from the public arising from the theft of telephone cable in the Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath areas. There has been at least 66 incidents of cable theft nationwide. The vast majority of these have occurred in the Cavan / Monaghan, Louth and Meath Garda divisions.

Gardaí said at the time that these cables were likely being targeted for copper contained within the cable itself. The theft has not only resulted in significant loss to the affected telephone provider – in these cases Eir - but has also greatly impacted the public by way of telephone and internet service outages.

These thefts have to date been primarily occurring in rural locations and when these cables are removed it can take two to three days in some cases to restore phone and internet services to affected households. This crime has a detrimental effect on older more vulnerable individuals living in rural communities as the loss of a phone service can significantly impact on their ability to access emergency services, medical alarm services and other supports. To date more than 1,500 households have had their services disrupted due to thefts of this nature nationwide.