Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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283. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps An Garda Síochána is taking to address the issue of bike theft in Dublin as highlighted by a recent RTÉ piece (details supplied). [3802/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of Garda business. This includes all operational policing matters. As Minister, I have no role in these independent functions.

I am advised that An Garda Síochána makes crime prevention advice publicly available through the national Crime Prevention Officer's network, the Garda website and social media channels.

This includes details of the 'Lock it or Lose it' campaign. The campaign highlights basic theft prevention measures, such as spending 10 - 20% of the value of a bicycle on two locks and locking the bicycle to a secure, immovable object. Garda advice is that you should lock your bike in public areas where CCTV cameras are operating. You should also make sure to keep the lock away from the ground, as criminals can use the ground for leverage to break it open.

The most crucial advice to reiterate is to record the serial number of the bicycle so that it can be returned to the owner in the event it is stolen.

For the Deputy's information, An Garda Síochána have launched a free property recording app which offers the facility to record the unique information associated with a person's property. Should items be stolen, the app also provides a way of reporting this to An Garda Síochána and gives the user the option to share information with Gardaí for this purpose.

The app allows you to take a photo of your property and you can enter the associated information:

- Name

- Description

- Value in euro/€

- Category

- Property type

- Make

- Model

- Serial Number

An Garda Síochána also provide, in collaboration with Property Marking Ireland, a property marking program.

The program involves marking property with the owner’s eircode number, which is a unique identifier. The mark that is made on the property is a physical mark which is etched into the property. It is very difficult to remove and can be repeated a number of times on the one item. The mark is made by a specially-designed machine which embosses the property item with small dots in the pattern of the owner's eircode.

I would encourage anyone who witnesses a crime to report this to An Garda Síochána. I would also encourage people to use a reputable dealer when looking to purchase a bike, e-bike or e-scooter.