Tonight more than a thousand people are expected to attend a meeting in Trim, Co Meath to discuss their concerns about rural crime in the North East.

The meeting comes amid growing fears of raids on small farms along the border with the North, where a number of farmers say they are being forced to take the law into their own hands.

When many hear the words 'rural crime', they think about the problem of Dublin-based gangs carrying out burglaries across the country before using the motorway network to make their escape.

In their efforts to crack down on rural theft and burglaries, gardaí have launched Operation Thor - targeting organised crime gangs and repeat offenders.

As part of a €5.3m investment, gardaí are also being provided with more high-powered vehicles, marked and unmarked patrol cars, cars for surveillance and covert operations, motorcycles and vehicles for public order policing.

However for many people living in rural communities the extra investment is not enough to put their minds at ease.

The issue of cattle-rustling has reared its head in recent months. In one case in Westmeath, more than 100 cows were stolen.

In other regions, there are serious concerns about the closure of Garda stations - with many farmers feeling like they have no other option but to defend their own property with firearms.

Mick - a farmer in his 50s - had eight of his own cattle stolen. He says he is ready to defend his livelihood if raiders return. 

"It's a tool [the shotgun] around the farm, but we don't expect to use that tool in law enforcement".

He painted a picture of rampant crime in the area, with little or no solutions being offered: "twice I've been hit, my brother has been hit twice, my daughter has been hit once, my cousin across the way has been hit twice, his sister has been hit once. No feedback, no comeback". 

Farmers from towns along the border - such as Castleblayney, Ballybay and Belturbet - have the same fears and experiences. 

With cattle-rustling, lawlessness and people carrying guns around, it almost sounds like the Wild West.

Others have reported a sinister campaign of intimidation going on in these areas. A number of people I spoke to mentioned jeeps and cars being driven around very slowly after these raids - with gates being opened and left swinging to frighten people.

John and Bernadette Burns are from Co Monaghan. They explained the toll these raids take on victims like themselves: "We'd be out of pocket about €10,000 with the whole lot, it's terrible stress [...] we didn't sleep for a long time, nearly a month".

Bernadette highlighted that the margins are thin enough already, without having to suffer the loss of livestock and property through robbery: "the way cattle prices and milk prices have dropped so much, you need every penny to live". 

At the end of 2013, 178,000 legally held firearms were in Ireland. By the end of last year, that was up to 205,000 - a jump of 11%.

One problem with more people having more guns is the potential that they could be stolen or lost. Garda figures from February of this year showed that 1,700 firearms had been stolen since 2010.

However, there are question marks over those figures - they include individual rounds of ammunition and toy guns.

One of the busiest shops for legally-used weapons is Courtlough, outside Balbriggan in Fingal.

Staff there say they understand why people in Cavan and Monaghan would keep firearms around - but they warn that not looking after guns carefully puts lives at risk: "anybody that drives around with a loaded gun in their jeep is very foolish. If a gun goes off, everybody in close proximity is in trouble, it's pointless".

Until people see local garda stations re-open and gardaí patrolling the back-roads of the country, they are still likely to feel unsafe, and feel the need to police themselves.

The Justice Minister says increasing garda numbers will tackle the issues up front. However in Cavan and Monaghan, people are not backing down. One farmer from Ballybay, Eric stated that "the only way it will come to a stop is if somebody is shot".

"There's only one law in this country and that's the law of the jungle," he added. "The fit will survive and if you have to use a shotgun to do that, so be it". 

Another man from the local area, Stanley, stated that "the people that's doing that [sic] are trying to break up a close-knit community". He added that he also has a firearm for protection, as "what's a firearm for on a farm only to shoot vermin, and you couldn't call them people much else".