A shortage of Gardaí and a lack of prison spaces are being blamed for spiking levels in rural crime.

A recent RedC poll in The Irish Farmers' Journal found 38% of farmers said they were victims of burglary.

According to the publication, over 40,000 farms ave been robbed in the past five years, with 14,000 in the past year alone.

Of those a third have been targeted more than once.

Leinster – excluding Dublin – has suffered most, with over half of farmers there reporting a robbery.

Irish Independent crime journalist Paul Williams has a theory about re-offending rates: