A local councillor has called for more regulations to be imposed on cash for gold shops amid concerns that some of the jewellery being offered by punters may not actually belong to them.
Commenting on the proliferation of cash for gold shops that have sprung up around the county in recent times, Castlebar Fine Gael Councillor Brendan Heneghan added that the issue of value-for-money or, more pertinently, value-for-gold, also needed to be looked at.
“This is a big business and I’m just looking out for people who could be left open to being ripped off,” he explained. “I’m not looking for these places to be closed down, they’re legitimate business like any other but they just need more regulation so that people know they are getting value for the gold handed in.”
However Inspector Martin Byrne from Castlebar Garda Station told the Advertiser this week that gardaí haven't seen any increase in burglaries for gold or jewellery in the area. “We have seen an increase in the number of burglaries in the past two months, but none of those were down to people looking for gold,” he said. “We have arrested five people in the last week for a number of those robberies, but there is no evidence to suggest that these shops have anything to do with the increase.”
Cllr Heneghan believes the current economic situation has played a major part in the number of such shops opening up around the county. “In the past few months we’ve seen two open up in Castlebar, Ballina, and Claremorris. The value of gold has also gone up as people have moved away from other investments like stocks and shares. You also have the situation where people have fallen on hard times and they need to get their hands on some money.”
The issue has already been highlighted in the national media and it is time local areas looked into it too, he said.
“There has to be some form of checking that the people who bring in the gold actually own it.” The Fine Gael town councillor advised anybody going to use these services to get their gold valued by a jeweller before hand to make sure they know exactly what it’s worth.
One local jeweller who declined to be named said jewellers around the country were worried about the lack of regulation. However he could not conceive how customers could be made accountable for gold they brought to the shop.
Unlike pawn shops where goods are kept until they are retrieved or sold on, cash for gold entails melting down jewellery leaving no trace of its original form.
“I don’t know how you can regulate people from buying stuff but I know somebody who wouldn’t touch the business at all because he was afraid people would bring in stolen goods for scrap because once it’s melted down that’s the end of it.”
When contacted by the Mayo Advertiser, Cyril Mullen, who runs the Cash for Gold shop in Ballina and Castlebar, said he didn’t want to comment on Cllr Henghan’s stance. “We have everything we can have in place in regards to security cameras and such things and we do liaise with gardaí in a lot of areas,” he said.
