Crime Data

Wednesday, 17 October 2018

Questions (129)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

129. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of crimes committed in 2018 to date on a monthly basis by offenders while out on bail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42729/18]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

As outlined in my response to the Deputy's Parliamentary Question No. 160 of 5 July 2018, a decision to grant bail in a particular case is a matter for the presiding Judge, who is, subject only to the Constitution and the law, independent in the exercise of his or her judicial functions. There is also a Constitutional presumption in favour of the grant of bail as, under Irish Law, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The Criminal Justice Act 2017 strengthens the operation of the bail system with the aim of making the law as effective as possible in protecting the public against crimes committed by persons on bail.

Under the Act, a Court, in considering an application for bail, is required to have regard to persistent serious offending by an applicant for bail and the nature and seriousness of any danger presented by the grant of bail to a person charged with an offence that carries a penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment or more. The Court will also have the power, in certain cases, to hear evidence from the victim of an offence before a decision on bail is taken.

Where an accused person is granted bail, the Act provides for stricter bail terms for repeat serious offenders, strengthens Garda powers to deal with breaches of bail, increases the use of curfews, and, where requested by Gardaí, allows for the introduction of electronic tagging for those on bail in certain circumstances.

I have requested a report from the Garda authorities on the information sought by the Deputy and I will contact him directly when the report is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A

I refer to parliamentary question No. 129 of 17 October 2018. The Deputy will recall in my response I undertook to contact him again once the information was to hand.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Central Statistics (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of the official recorded crime statistics. The following table shows the number of crime incidents which are recorded as having at least one offender on bail for the years 2013-2017. The figures for 2018 are not available from the CSO at this time.

It is worth noting that all statistics on recorded crimes are currently categorised as “Under Reservation”. The Central Statistics Office (CSO), in conjunction with An Garda Síochána continue to make good progress on returning the crime figures to the higher standard expected of our national crime statistics. I am determined that this body of work be completed as soon as possible and I welcome the continued diligence of the Policing Authority in monitoring this matter.

The table shows the number of crime incidents which are recorded as having at least one offender on bail for the years 2013-2017. The figures for 2018 are not available from the CSO at this time.

					No. of Crime Incidents which are Recorded as having at least one Offender on Bail for the years 2013 - 2017
Incident Type	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
01 Homicide Offences	7	10	8	4	5
02 Sexual Offences	20	26	28	24	30
03 Attempts/Threats to Murder, assaults, harassments and related offences	504	669	745	746	912
04 Dangerous or Negligent Acts	216	300	326	431	502
05 Kidnapping and Related Offences	7	6	16	8	13
06 Robbery, Extortion and Hijacking Offences	285	399	371	322	351
07 Burglary and Related Offences	1241	1674	1532	1331	1342
08 Theft and Related Offences	4116	5136	5636	6007	6907
09 Fraud, Deception and Related Offences	168	224	281	243	248
10 Controlled Drug Offences	1163	1822	1883	1987	2035
11 Weapons and Explosives Offences	337	438	463	436	463
12 Damage to Property and to the Environment	641	878	901	866	841
13 Public Order and other Social Code Offences	2841	3713	4558	4258	5180
15 Offences against Government, Justice Procedures and Organisation of Crime	4777	6629	8073	8823	9519

I trust this information is of assistance.