Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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514. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if his Department will consider supporting the purchase and delivery of a property marking machine in collaboration with An Garda Síochána to each local authority across the country, to help cut down on property theft; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9989/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware property marking is a process where a physical mark is made on a piece of property (eg bike, laptop, plant machinery, etc.) 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 can inform the Deputy that my Department has provided grant funding to Property Marking Ireland (PMI), the trading name of Community Services Network (CSN). CSN is a not-for-profit organisation whose initial focus has been on the enhancement of security and the feelings of security in communities, households and businesses. The main focus of CSN is on its property marking service under the name PMI.

PMI approached my Department for funding in early 2022 with the purpose of the application being to expand the service from the then currently available 12 counties (with a further 6 in progress) to all 26 counties.

PMI has developed links with local authorities through the Joint Policing Committees, as well as community groups such as Men’s Sheds, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), Community Alert and Neighbourhood Watch.

The Department agreed to provide grant funding of €300,000 to the scheme for a period of four years, after which it is envisaged the scheme will become self-financing.

PMI work with An Garda Síochána to raise awareness of the service, which is generally free of charge for household items, and An Garda Síochána organise events around the country to make it available to the community.

My Department has no direct role in these events or the availability of the property marking service and I would encourage anyone interested in the service to contact PMI directly. Further details are available at: propertymarking.ie/how-it-works/?et_open_tab=et_pb_tab_1#my-tabs|1

The Deputy may also be interested to note that An Garda Síochána launched a property recording app at the Ploughing Championships 2022.

This is a free app developed by An Garda Síochána to allow you to record and index your property.

It provides the facility to record the unique information associated with your property. Should any items be stolen, the app also provides a way of reporting this to An Garda Síochána and gives you the option to share information with Gardaí for this purpose.

Further information can be found at: garda.ie/en/angardasiochanaapp/.