Clamped in housing estate

Yes he is making a mistake.

You can take it off without damaging it, if you can, do it and leave it where you found it.

cutting it off is criminal damage and taking it away is theft.

The clampers in Galway are scum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNsnfzubbjw

Damaging property.

2.—(1) A person who without lawful excuse damages any property belonging to another intending to damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be damaged shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person who without lawful excuse damages any property, whether belonging to himself or another—

(a) intending to damage any property or being reckless as to whether any property would be damaged, and

(b) intending by the damage to endanger the life of another or being reckless as to whether the life of another would be thereby endangered,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) A person who damages any property, whether belonging to himself or another, with intent to defraud shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) An offence committed under this section by damaging property by fire shall be charged as arson.

(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and

(b) on conviction on indictment—

(i) in case the person is guilty of arson under subsection (1) or (3) or of an offence under subsection (2) (whether arson or not), to a fine or imprisonment for life or both, and

(ii) in case the person is guilty of any other offence under this section, to a fine not exceeding £10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.

(6) For the purposes of this section a person is reckless if he has foreseen that the particular kind of damage that in fact was done might be done and yet has gone on to take the risk of it.

the only (completely useless) advice i have is

Fair enough - they are obviously ruthless.

If there is no proof of the brother removing the clamp, then he could argue he didnt remove it someone else did without his knowledge.

Otherwise, I could go around cutting clamps off random cars and the car owner would be liable for damages - thankfully this isnt the case.

The brother is still breaking the law, whether there is proof or not.

Of course.

As it stands now, nobody is breaking the law.

Might have been more believable had you said your the Aunt who does metal arts and crafts classes with an angle grinder (just saying) but liked the post 😅🤣

They tend to take your car away instead

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/more-than-500-clamps-illegally-removed-in-dublin-last-year-1.2820863

They may not be allowed to, but that does not mean they can't.

The same way you are not allowed to cut off a clamp, but can do.

If it’s on a public road then private clamps are illegal, worth checking with the gardai.