An elderly couple from the US were left devastated last weekend when their car was broken into and their property was stolen, including bags containing their passports, credit cards and other essential items, while they were visiting Fore Abbey.
Driver guide with Extreme Ireland, Roderick O’Gorman, who takes in Fore and Uisneach as part of the Celtic Tour, told Topic more about the Fore incident and described how he had assisted the visitors and helped them get in touch with the Gardai and others.
He explained that after his own bus was broken into at Lough Tay, Wicklow, just weeks ago, he was extra vigilant when it came to passengers leaving their valuables on board the vehicle. “We were only away from the bus for eight minutes. The Military Road is quite remote. I was informed that Gardai do patrol the area but once they go past, these robbers can just circle around again. We came back and the emergency lock on the outside of the bus that emergency services use to open the door was interfered with. They obviously knew how to use that and turned and snapped it open and with cars either side, quite casually, got into the bus and eight of my sixteen passengers were hit. They stole bags which had passports, cash, cameras, phones, house keys. The passengers were terribly upset. They had gone from complimenting Ireland and saying how friendly we are to this dreadful experience. I was sickened to the pit of my stomach and so embarrassed on behalf of Ireland.”
He made the point that as well as devastating visitors, the thieves were driving away potential tourists. “These guys are not only robbing the tourist but they are robbing Ireland of its image. We had over 13 million visitors to our shores last year and we need all of them coming to Ireland. It’s not just the money or credit cards they took or the inconvenience caused. Those people will go back and tell people that they were robbed and people will decide not to come to our country.”
After his own experience, Mr O’Gorman now urges passengers to take their bags with them when they leave the bus. “I am very vigilant since that happened and I tell all my customers, to be on the safe side, if they have any valuables with them to bring them with them, because many of the places that we visit are quite remote. I say hopefully it would never happen and try not to be alarmist or tell them about other instances, but I do tell them to take their valuables with them.
“I told them that at Fore Abbey last week and sure enough, when we came back 15 minutes later, there was a car parked right beside the bus and the back window had been smashed and they had taken two rucksacks from the elderly American couple who were touring around Ireland. They were absolutely distraught because suddenly, their passports, credit cards, all their flight information was gone. It was an awful experience for them.”
Mr. O’Gorman stayed with the couple as long as he could, and assisted them in getting in touch with the Gardai as well as their rental car company.”
“I know our Garda resources are stretched but in my experience in Wicklow, I was waiting an hour and ten minutes. Because passports were stolen, you have to file a report to the Gardai and they were an hour and a half taking statements and did forensics on the bus. I think they found a lot of the bags. These guys discard any evidence that would incriminate them, so they’ll take what they can and throw the bags with credit cards and passports away. They just want cash and jewellery.
They’ll be found in some ditch somewhere near Fore Abbey. They have signs up in most locations where you stop now, saying ‘Watch out for robbers’.
When people lock their belongings in the boot of the car, they will still smash the window and get in. It’s a horrible development. You can’t leave your car in these places anymore. It’s very sad to see the trauma of that poor American couple. I did my best to reassure them that this does not represent Ireland. It is well known that in an hour, that money is turned into drugs. A Garda said that about 85 per cent of the crimes that they deal with are drug related. A car being broken into, an old lady getting her bag snatched, a house being broken into it. It’s all for paying for drugs. The rest of us do a hard week’s work and they make the same amount of money in five minutes,” he commented.
