The owner of a convenience store in Limerick city has said that dealing with the scourge of shop lifting and the intimidation and harassment of shop staff is an "absolute nightmare".
Shane Gleeson, who owns the Spar shop on Catherine Street, said that many small retailers are leaving the trade because it has become intolerable.
He said that they are dealing on a daily basis with the menace of shoplifting and with staff being abused.
An Oireachtas committee has heard that groups of "feral youth" and organised gangs are causing an "explosion in crimes against retailers".
The Director General of Retail Grocery Dairy and Allied Traders Association, which represents over 3,500 local shops, said that they descend "like a plague of locusts and rob to order".
Mr Gleeson said staff are regularly spat at, kicked in the shins, shouted at and frequently followed around the store by people with phones recording staff and harassing them, with the intention of using it in some way to then bring a legal action against staff if they react in any way. He said that this can go on for up to 15-20 minutes.
"I have had staff regularly abused, intimidated, verbally threatened, and physically assaulted in terms of being spat at, and kicked," he said.
"Many of the offenders are very young teenagers, and while we call the gardaí and they are arrested, they are then back out on the street again in the afternoon and back in the store once again.
"And if they are eventually brought to court, they are fined, which they never ever pay."
He said serious deterrents are now needed to deal with what is a major anti-social behaviour issue and intimidation issue for shop owners and retail staff.
"Stronger deterrents are definitely needed in law, ones that hit hard at those offenders in an effort to try and hammer home that this type of behaviour against shop workers cannot be tolerated," Mr Gleeson.
"I worked in Melbourne in Australia in the past and they had a system there that if an offender was fined for such a crime as intimidating or causing damage to a shop, the fine was taken out of their state benefits until the whole fine was paid, and it had a huge impact in driving these sort of crimes down.
"I know of a number of small retailers who have left the business because they just cannot tolerate this type of behaviour anymore and the impact it's having on their staff and livelihoods, and I think we'll see more of that unless we can impose sufficient deterrents," he added.
"People need to feel safe in their place of work and this is not acceptable."
