Groups of "feral youth" and organised gangs are causing an "explosion in crimes against retailers", an Oireachtas committee has heard.
They descend "like a plague of locusts and rob to order", Tara Buckley, the Director General of Retail Grocery Dairy and Allied Traders Association (RGDATA), which represents over 3,500 local shops, said.
While they are "a tiny minority", retailers "see them progressing" to more serious crime, she told the Joint Committee on Enterprise, adding that shoplifting costs the sector €1.6bn annually.
"We would have approximately a thousand incidents a week," Julie Dorel, Musgrave's Head of Communications said.
But she added that this figure of reported incidents is an understatement, "as retailers consider it an investment in time with little outcome" to record crimes committed against them and their staff.
Shoplifters and people abusing staff are fearless, she said.
Their activities have now reached "astronomical proportions", Vincent Jennings, Chief Executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA) added.
Their "vile and misogynistic, racist abuse has been growing and it is now reaching pandemic proportions," he said.
Most shoplifting is done by a "small number of criminals stealing on a regular basis," he said, and - "most worryingly" - they use children to carry out the crimes.
Mr Jennings dismissed suggestions that "the rise in shoplifting is directly related to the increase in the cost of living".
It is carried out by gangs who are "literally emptying whole displays sections of expensive personal hygiene products or washing machine refills," he told the committee.
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'Take it up with Drew Harris'
"There seems to be a terrible anger in society."
He and his staff have to deal with anything short of "an attempted assault" themselves, as it is not worth contacting the gardaí, he said.
The replication of a "very successful approach used by Belfast retailers and the PSNI" has been "consistently shot down by An Garda Siochána", Mr Jennings said.
He pointed to the "extensive" use of Anti-Social Behavior Orders (ASBOs) "in other jurisdictions".
"The unwillingness of An Garda Síochána to manage and oversee them" is the only reason they are not used in the Republic, he added.
In a sustained criticism of the force, he pointed to "a deterioration in service from the gardaí in recent years".
"We're frequently provided with a lack of resources and personnel as an explanation for slow and - in some cases - no responses to calls for assistance," he said.
He told the committee that 'take it up with Drew Harris' is a common response gardaí give to retailers.
"GDPR and different protections afforded to criminals leave a very bitter taste in our mouths," Mr Jennings said.
"Balance needs to be restored. We are on the frontline."
Mr Jennings asked the committee to establish why gardaí oppose the use of ASBOs, and also to recommend that "each theft or abusive behaviour carried out by youths be the subject of a Tusla referral".
Intimidation and shop lifting an 'absolute nightmare', says Limerick shop owner
