![\"Pictured](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/9a25914e-8b0a-42be-8bd3-96fe03b90f52.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pictured is the pump stolen from Woodtown, Co Meath<\/p>\n
A Meath councillor is raising concerns of what he described as \u201csome kind of serial water pump robber\u201d across north Meath, following a spate of thefts in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
Councillor Paddy Meade said that six historic pumps have been stolen from rural areas located in close proximity of each other within the last two months.<\/p>\n
The most recent theft was of the pump near Lough Bracken in Drumconrath, Co Meath overnight, between April 28-29.<\/p>\n
The incident follows a pump in Bigstown being stolen overnight between April 22-23 and the pump at Howthstown which was taken the following evening.<\/p>\n
The pump in the Woodtown area was also stolen in recent weeks along with the pump at Rathbran Beg and Birdhill.<\/p>\n
Cllr Meade said the incidents have been reported to An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na and that locals have been on high alert for suspicious vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are substantial cast iron structures and part of our local heritage, this is not random theft,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a lot of people around here it\u2019s the water pump their grandfather used. It\u2019s cultural and a meeting spot, with more significance than the person who buys it will ever put on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The councillor has contacted Meath County Council about the issue which he says is escalating.<\/p>\n
He has called for the installation of CCTV in the area to deter further thefts and for a surveillance camera to be installed in areas where pumps remain.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeath has the lowest garda numbers in the country, and while garda\u00ed are doing their best, they need the public\u2019s help,\u201d Cllr Meade said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you saw anything suspicious, vehicles in rural areas at off hours, any information at all please contact garda\u00ed immediately. We need investigation, CCTV and protection of remaining pumps.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pictured is the pump stolen from Woodtown, Co Meath A Meath councillor is raising concerns of what he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,5657,43],"class_list":["post-424820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-louise-hickey","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}