Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 5 Jul 2001

Vol. 540 No. 3

Written Answers. - Crime Levels.

Richard Bruton

Question:

278 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the trend in the number of offences for public order offences and for drunk and disorderly offences in each of the past five years; and his views on the recent reported remarks by the Garda Commissioner on his alarm at public order offences reaching 38,000. [20510/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

Details in relation to the number of offences where proceedings commenced under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994, for the years 1995 to 1999 are published in the annual reports of the Garda Síochána, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library.

Statistics on the number of offences where proceedings commenced for the year 2000 are currently being compiled for publication in the Garda Síochána's annual report, which will become available in due course.

With regards to the Garda Commissioner's reported remarks, I wish to inform the Deputy that the figure quoted represents the sum of a variety of offences under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994, and the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1988, as amended, from October 2000 to March 2001 and that comparable figures are not available for the same period in previous years.

I am satisfied that the Garda Síochána's Operation Oíche has proven highly effective and that recent legislative and other measures in relation to intoxicating liquor and juvenile justice will pay dividends. Moreover, the national crime council is undertaking a major research project in relation to public order offences, which should significantly enhance the information available to us about the nature and patterning of this problem. In addition, the Garda Commissioner has brought together a group to provide expert advice on the particular factors which appear to be at work in the manifest tendency towards violence in certain instances among young people.