Thomas P. Broughan
Question:477. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the crime statistics for 2011 and 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2435/13]
View answerTuesday, 22 January 2013
Questions (477)
Written answers
The most recent crime statistics were published by the Central Statistics Office on 21 December 2012 and cover the period to the end of the third quarter of 2012. Full details are available from the Central Statistics Office or on their website (www.cso.ie).
These latest figures show a welcome reduction in 12 of the 14 crime groups for which figures are given, compared with the previous 12 months and reflect well on the impact the Gardaí are having on crime.
In particular, crimes against the person are down including homicide offences (down 17.9%), sexual offences (down 0.7%) and assault and related offences (down 9.5%). Public order and damage to property offences are also down (by 12% and 9.3% respectively), as are drug offences (down 7.1%) and weapons and explosives offences (down 17.4%).
The position with respect to some property offences remains a concern, however. Robbery is down (by 5.9%) but burglary is up 7.9% and fraud offences up by 6.2%. While the overall category of theft offences are down by 1.2% there is a worrying increase in the level of theft from the person and this is continuing to receive attention through targeted Garda operations. While the burglary figures reflect a twelve month trend seen earlier in 2012, the rate of increase has reduced from 10.3% to 7.9% and the figures for the most recent quarter reflect the impact Operation Fiacla is having, when compared to periods prior to its introduction. As can be seen from the 3,538 persons arrested and 1,924 charged under Operation Fiacla in the period form April up to the end of December 2012, An Garda Síochána is clearly tackling the problem of burglary and the prolific offenders involved head–on.