Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
1515. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons who have been arrested for sexual assault in each of the past ten years and to date in 2022; and the breakdown by county of these arrests in tabular form. [39901/22]
View answerI can assure the Deputy that this Government is deeply committed to tackling sexual violence and sexual crime in all its forms.
Working to ensure that victims feel empowered to report sexual crimes and that when they do, they are fully supported at every stage of their interaction with our justice system, is a priority for me as Minister for Justice.
Building a criminal justice system that victims have confidence in is central to the actions set out in Supporting a Victim’s Journey . The implementation of the important reforms set out in this detailed action plan is continuing and a number of key actions have already been delivered including:
Legislating for the introduction of preliminary trial hearings which will reduce delay and disruption that might re-traumatise victims;
- The completion of the nationwide rollout of Divisional Protective Services Units (DPSUs);
- The first cohort of staff at a new sexual offences unit in the Director of Public Prosecutions office formally took up their roles in April 2021;
- Work to advance the training of all personnel who come into contact with vulnerable victims is underway;
- The University of Limerick has been commissioned by the Department to develop the framework for the operation and training of intermediaries and the first cohort of students will begin this course in September;
- A review of the supports and funding of civil society organisations providing frontline services to victims of sexual offences was conducted at the end of last year to identify where gaps may exist and how to bridge them and additional funding has been provided to a number of organisations to address the gaps identified.
The Deputy will also be aware that I recently brought to Government 'Zero Tolerance, The Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence'. This new plan has a particular focus on prevention, and on ensuring victims are better supported.
In relation to the specific information sought by the Deputy on the number of persons arrested for sexual assault, I have sought this information from An Garda Síochána and it is presented in the table below.
The table shows the number of individuals for whom at least one Prisoner Log was created on the PULSE system during the indicated years in relation to Sexual Assault[1] incidents.
|
Region/Division |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022** |
Total |
|
Dublin Region |
1,245 |
|||||||||||
|
D.M.R. Eastern |
* |
14 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
* |
12 |
10 |
* |
|
|
D.M.R. North Central |
11 |
10 |
14 |
12 |
14 |
13 |
23 |
25 |
31 |
26 |
* |
|
|
D.M.R. Northern |
20 |
18 |
10 |
24 |
27 |
37 |
34 |
32 |
16 |
21 |
15 |
|
|
D.M.R. South Central |
10 |
14 |
12 |
17 |
21 |
18 |
28 |
27 |
21 |
21 |
* |
|
|
D.M.R. Southern |
19 |
22 |
18 |
25 |
26 |
39 |
32 |
31 |
26 |
32 |
11 |
|
|
D.M.R. Western |
13 |
19 |
10 |
26 |
25 |
17 |
11 |
17 |
24 |
26 |
12 |
|
|
Eastern Region |
1,396 |
|||||||||||
|
Kildare Div |
* |
12 |
16 |
11 |
12 |
12 |
10 |
15 |
25 |
24 |
* |
|
|
Kilkenny/Carlow |
14 |
11 |
12 |
23 |
21 |
26 |
18 |
20 |
15 |
18 |
* |
|
|
Laois/Offaly |
* |
17 |
12 |
15 |
21 |
21 |
20 |
15 |
28 |
27 |
17 |
|
|
Meath Div |
11 |
10 |
12 |
13 |
10 |
* |
11 |
12 |
11 |
18 |
* |
|
|
Waterford Div |
18 |
22 |
17 |
18 |
14 |
24 |
28 |
24 |
40 |
35 |
28 |
|
|
Westmeath Div |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
17 |
12 |
12 |
* |
|
|
Wexford Div |
* |
* |
16 |
17 |
23 |
28 |
22 |
28 |
37 |
40 |
15 |
|
|
Wicklow Div |
* |
11 |
17 |
12 |
19 |
16 |
12 |
17 |
16 |
13 |
* |
|
|
North Western Region |
848 |
|||||||||||
|
Cavan/Monaghan |
19 |
18 |
12 |
15 |
11 |
18 |
22 |
12 |
10 |
12 |
* |
|
|
Donegal |
16 |
11 |
* |
19 |
13 |
17 |
22 |
19 |
* |
27 |
10 |
|
|
Galway Div |
* |
14 |
11 |
* |
15 |
* |
10 |
* |
12 |
18 |
* |
|
|
Louth Div |
17 |
* |
10 |
10 |
17 |
21 |
10 |
18 |
15 |
11 |
* |
|
|
Mayo |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
12 |
14 |
14 |
11 |
* |
|
|
Roscommon/Longford Div |
* |
* |
* |
* |
14 |
* |
10 |
12 |
* |
14 |
* |
|
|
Sligo/Leitrim |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
10 |
* |
11 |
13 |
* |
* |
|
|
Southern Region |
1,236 |
|||||||||||
|
Clare |
* |
11 |
* |
14 |
13 |
10 |
* |
12 |
* |
* |
15 |
|
|
Cork City |
18 |
25 |
28 |
20 |
22 |
25 |
30 |
31 |
21 |
28 |
* |
|
|
Cork North |
14 |
13 |
12 |
19 |
17 |
20 |
26 |
25 |
15 |
18 |
13 |
|
|
Cork West |
* |
14 |
13 |
* |
* |
* |
13 |
* |
16 |
12 |
* |
|
|
Kerry |
15 |
11 |
* |
12 |
* |
* |
13 |
18 |
12 |
* |
11 |
|
|
Limerick |
19 |
24 |
25 |
23 |
26 |
28 |
18 |
27 |
28 |
18 |
20 |
|
|
Tipperary |
19 |
27 |
12 |
17 |
15 |
22 |
12 |
14 |
18 |
31 |
12 |
|
|
National |
331 |
378 |
345 |
412 |
437 |
486 |
481 |
518 |
512 |
543 |
282 |
4,725 |
* Fewer than 10
** 1 January to 14 July only
Counts are based on year of arrest and the related offence may have occurred during the same year or a previous year.
Division is the Garda Division in which the offender was taken into custody and may or may not be the same Division in which the offence took place and/or the Division of residence of the offender.
Figures are based on operational PULSE data as of 1:30am on the 15th of July 2022. Crime counting rules were not applied to data. Figures of less than 10 are not reported to ensure there are no issues from a data protection perspective.
[1] Includes incident types ‘Sexual Assault’ and ‘Aggravated Sexual Assault’ only. Does not include other sexual offences such as Rape.
