then used to take away a ride-on mower belonging to his neighbour, John Quinn.

"I am still discovering tools that are missing from my work shop three months after the first robbery in June," Mr O'Gorman said. "These robberies have left us all feeling very fearful and it has had a particularly bad effect on my 11-year-old son, who gets scared every time he hears a car slowing down on the road."

John Quinn, a cattle farmer who lives across the road from Mr O'Gorman, admits that he has tried to turn his farm yard into a "fortress".

"In June, the thieves broke into a back garage at my yard and took a chain saw, strimmer, battery pack drills and hand tools, which they then carried across to Barry's yard," hesaid.

"They took so much stuff that time that they left the spare tyre and carpet from the boot of the car they were using to make room.

"The second time they came (August), they took more tools and a ride-on mower which they loaded on to Barry's trailer."

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The thieves emptied drums of oil and lubricant in another shed and opened the tap on a diesel tank - the total cost to Mr Quinn on that occasion was around €5,000.

Michael Hackett's dairy farm is less than a half-mile from the Quinn and O'Gorman properties. In the June robberies, he lost equipment worth €6,000.

"We had been working in the yard bringing in silage until 1am that morning and when we started work again at 6am we discovered the robbery," he