Jim Higgins
Question:6 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Taoiseach the crime figures elicited in the recently published quarterly household survey; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13642/99]
Ceisteanna–Questions. - Quarterly National Household Survey.
The most recent figures published by the CSO from the quarterly national household survey related to employment and unemployment in the last two quarters of 1998. The results were published on 13 May. The survey also included a module on crime and victimisation in addition to the regular questions on the population and labour force, in the fourth quarter of 1998. Now that the main labour force figures for that quarter have been published, the CSO is giving priority to analysing the answers given to the questions on crime and victimisation. It is expected, subject to unforeseen delays, that the results of this module will become available in July or August.
I welcome the inclusion of this module in the quarterly national household survey. It is valuable. The reason it was included was to examine the impression that much crime goes unreported and that crime is under-reported. What format was used? What type of questionnaire and categories of questions were used, if that is not too expansive a question?
The module included questions about household security, people's perceptions of crime and safety, whether the person had been the victim of one of a number of crimes, from a list which included burglary, theft of vehicles, theft from vehicles, vandalism, theft with violence, theft without violence, and assault. These questions were put to persons aged 18 or over in households surveyed in the period from September to November 1998. The questions were aimed at establishing the incidence of crime over the pre vious year, whether reported or not reported to the gardaí. No questions were asked about sexual assault or domestic violence as it was felt they would not be appropriate to this type of survey. The questions were agreed by an advisory group comprising representatives from the CSO, the Garda Síochána, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Department of the Taoiseach, the Economic and Social Research Institute, Trinity College, the North-Eastern Health Board and the National Council on Ageing and Older People. This information has been compiled from the Quarterly National Household Survey, which surveys 3,000 households each week. It also did a survey on housing during the previous quarter and both results should be available in the middle of this year. When Deputy Higgins was Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach he was instrumental in getting the Central Statistics Office to commence the survey on crime and victimisation.