THE Lord Mayor of Cork city has proposed that the city introduce a property-marking scheme, which she said would act as a deterrent against theft.

Property marking is a process where a physical mark is etched into a piece of property, for instance, a bike, laptop, or piece of plant machinery.

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.

It is understood that each machine costs in the region of €2,000.

Lord Mayor of Cork city, Councillor Deirdre Forde (FG), proposed that Cork City Council introduce a scheme whereby one property-marking machine is purchased for each of the five electoral areas.

“I think it’s an idea which would really work well, and the people would turn out in their droves to take advantage of it,” Cllr Forde told The Echo.

Cllr Forde said the idea had worked well elsewhere.

“What my colleagues up the country have told me is they go into a community centre, for instance, or the local council offices, and people bring their item in, and they mark them.

“It’s a very simple job, but afterward, if the item were stolen and the goods are recovered, the gardaí can see who owns it because it matches to the owner,” she said.

Cllr Forde said she intends to speak at the next Corporate Policy Group meeting of the City Council to raise the possibility of purchasing five property-marking machines. 

“This seems to be a no-brainer to me where we can help the community hang onto their property, we can help the gardaí match the stolen goods to their owners much quicker, and it will also act as an obvious deterrent,” Cllr Forde said.