Lar Corbett spoke to Balls.ie today about the robbery of his pub in Thurles, stating his belief that it was 'an inside job'.
Corbett left a series of tweets earlier this morning detailing how he had been robbed and vowing to track down the thief. He also posted the CCTV footage of the man walking up the pub and opening the door with a key.
Corbett said they are zeroing in on the culprit but he is not sure whether the man is a former employee or managed to steal a key.
This was an inside job. Either a member of staff gave him a key or this lad robbed a key or he was an ex-member of staff that worked with us maybe a substantial time ago. I don't know which one it is. But when he came in he came up the back stairs in darkness, which you would have to know your way, which way you were going. He got in the top office on the top floor and he knew exactly where to go. Nothing was disturbed except the place where the cash was.
His tweets generated a huge response with many people responding saying they recognised the face of the man in the video. Corbett is confident that they will track down the man and/or people responsible.
This guy came in at two minutes past twelve. We're closing in on this guy because by the time I put it up on twitter a lot of people came back and said that they recognised the face. We're narrowing it down. We know the car that was involved as well. And that this guy left on foot. And we know the direction he went when he left on foot.
Local people in the town who have cameras outside their businesses have come together and said that they have footage and we're putting the missing pieces of the jigsaw together.
He didn't disclose the amount that was taken other than to say it was 'a substantial amount'.
Corbett's assessment of the situation on the ground in Thurles gives a clue to his passion. He feels that this has happened too often in Thurles and says that the gardai in the area are under resourced and badly over-stretched.
The response has been unbelievable because people can relate to it in rural Ireland. Either themselves, their mother, their father or their own businesses have been robbed. The problem here is that the guards are too thin on the ground. I'm not here to point the finger at anybody or any member of An Garda Siochana in Tipperary or the Thurles area. I know that we work with them on a weekly basis running the bar. They're just so understaffed, it's unbelievable. They're stretched so thin they can't get to the people that have the problems...
At the moment, everyone that's 70 or 65 years of age, either has been robbed, has someone belonging to them that has been robbed, or they know somebody who's been robbed. That's the way it is and they're afraid of their lives in their houses.
He has vowed that he will not be another of the helpless victims of a robbery and is extremely confident that they are going to apprehend the guilty party or parties.
We're definitely, definitely going to catch this fella because I'm not going to be one of the statistics.... We're fair close to getting this lad, because the information that's coming back to me has been very, very positive. People from the community have came and said they recognise this guy.
We're waiting just for the reg of the car that is going to come back from the cameras that are in the Thurles area. We have this guy's movements. This guy will be caught and the people that were involved in it will be caught and I'm making sure of that.
You can listen to what Lar has had to say about the incident here:
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