This is the moment that a suspected burglar sprinted for the hills after realising he was caught on a doorbell camera.
The camera was installed at a home in Swords in a neighbourhood that has been a repeated target of robbers preying on older, vulnerable people over the past year.
The video, originally posted in the Swords Neighbours and Friends Group on Facebook as a warning to other residents, shows the man approach the door with something in his right hand.
The man tries to open the front door but, upon noticing the camera, he immediately backtracks away, realising the home in question won't be an easy target.
However, a number of other homes in the area were reportedly burgled on Tuesday night.
One local resident, Cormac, said his camera was installed after three burglary attempts on his home in 14 months.
The front door and back door of his home were both broken into on separate occasions, while Gardai also caught a person trying to break in red-handed about four months ago.
"That led to us getting the camera and catching your man, so that’ll be number four now," Cormac told Dublin Live.
"The other day, when we got the video, there were other houses hit.
"The neighbours beside me, no one was in the house, I don’t know if they were hit or not.
"When that man was at the front door, I wasn’t here, so god knows what he would have done if he got in."
Cormac also notes that the area is generally quiet, and has an older population, which he feels might make them an easy target in a thief's mind.
"There’s so many vulnerable people in the area," he said.
"It’s quite a quiet neighbourhood. It’s mainly old people living here. I don’t know if that makes it a big target.
"When I was growing up, the people who were old, now they’re very old, and even their kids are getting old. The camera itself, I got an electrician to do it but it’s a bit confusing.
"But it is, without a doubt, worth the return. That man saw the camera right there, and he just took off, it’s as simple as that."
Gardai told Dublin Live that they "are investigating a number of burglaries that are alleged to have taken place in the Swords area in recent days".
