Ian Downes, a resident of a new block of apartments in Smithfield, lives in a duplex on the seventh floor, with its own roof terrace. His BBQ was stolen just a week after it was purchased. "We just left it on the roof.

You'd think it was safe because all of our neighbours have garden furniture, which would be worth far more than a BBQ."

A caretaker in a Dublin 8 apartment block admitted that some people have a false sense of safety regarding the security of residential buildings.

"All apartment blocks have security doors, but all you need to do is follow someone in and they'll hold the door open for you and you can go anywhere you want in the building, " he said.

"Burglars work buildings from the top down, so if they find stuff worth taking from the roof, they'll do that and leave the apartments alone."

A garda spokesperson said: "We haven't been contacted regarding a rise in BBQ theft. It's not something that we'd follow up. From our point of view, the theft of a BBQing machine is a minor incident."

Downes says the next BBQ he purchases will have to be locked up. "I was extremely angry, but on the plus side it did save me from cleaning it."