RGDATA also welcomes specific commitments to tackle retail crime in the new Programme for Government including:
• Publish a Retail Crime Strategy with targeted actions to reduce retail crime
and support affected businesses.
• Update the Public Order Acts to allow a prolific offender of retail crime to be
excluded from a premises for a certain period of time.
• Support Garda Operations to tackle retail crime including through the use of organised
crime and proceeds of crime legislation.
• Examine the introduction of a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker.
• Introduce a new grant scheme for anti theft and prevention measures.
• Improve data sharing between retailers and Gardaí.
• Expand the use of community sanctions for retail crime.
• Tackle the practice of ‘retail defamation.’