A new rural safety plan aims to crack down on the theft of farm vehicles and reduce trespassing and dog attacks.

The vision of the Rural Safety Plan, which will run from 2022 to 2024, is for rural communities to feel safe and be safe in their homes, places of work, and local environments.

The plan identifies five key priority areas – community safety, burglary and theft, roads policing, animal crime, and heritage crime.

Gardaí plan to tackle the damage caused by uncontrolled dogs and deter the illegal practices of lamping, poaching and trespassing.

To try and prevent, detect and reduce livestock theft, gardaí are encouraging livestock owners to report stolen livestock to gardaí and their regional veterinary office. To reduce the theft of agricultural machinery, community-based text alerts and property marking are top of the agenda.

A new Garda Property App will allow farmers make an inventory of property they have which in-turn will help the gardaí recover the stolen items.

As part of the roads policing plan, gardaí want to deny criminals the use of the rural roads network and reduce the number of deaths and injuries on rural roads. Minister of State for Law Reform James Browne, who launched the plan, said: “For us, the safety of individuals and communities in rural Ireland is a major priority.”