Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
1516. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons who have reported a sexual assault and rape in each of the past ten years; the number of arrests for sexual assault and rape for each of the last ten years, the number of prosecutions for sexual assault and rape each of the last ten years. [39902/22]
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 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 for 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 to identify where gaps may exist and how to bridge them and additional funding has been provided to a number of organisations in response to the findings of this mapping exercise.
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, I have sought relevant information from An Garda Síochána and it is presented in the table below. In relation to the number of prosecutions for sexual assault in the past 10 years, I would remind the Deputy that the decision to prosecute in such cases is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions who is independent in her functions. This is not something that I as Minister for Justice have any role in.
Table 1 shows:
- The number of persons who reported sexual assault [1] or rape [2] to An Garda Síochána each year between 2012 and 2022.[3]
- Arrests associated with sexual assault or rape incidents each year between 2012 and 2022. [4]
- Individuals arrested in relation to sexual assault or rape incidents each year between 2012 and 2022. [5]
- Charges and Summonses associated with sexual assault and rape incidents each year between 2012 and 2022. [6]
- Individuals Charged/Summonsed in relation to sexual assault and rape incidents each year between 2012 and 2022. [7]
|
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022* |
|
|
A. Individuals who reported sexual assault or rape |
1,070 |
1,080 |
1,106 |
1,227 |
1,309 |
1,470 |
1,797 |
1,859 |
1,627 |
1,922 |
1,159 |
|
B. Arrests in relation to sexual assault or rape |
554 |
530 |
539 |
585 |
597 |
697 |
694 |
739 |
744 |
845 |
389 |
|
C. Individuals arrested in relation to sexual assault or rape |
541 |
503 |
504 |
539 |
541 |
639 |
633 |
672 |
682 |
712 |
350 |
|
D. Charges/Summons in relation to sexual assault or rape |
1,326 |
487 |
865 |
645 |
1,313 |
707 |
1,253 |
1,025 |
1,101 |
2,246 |
1,148 |
|
E. Individuals charged/summonsed in related to sexual assault or rape |
319 |
270 |
289 |
325 |
373 |
412 |
414 |
486 |
499 |
488 |
310 |
* To 20 July 2022
Additional Information
All figures are based on operational PULSE data as of 1.30am on 20th July 2022. Crime counting rules are not applied to ensure that all of the individuals who reported or were arrested/charged/summonsed in relation to sexual assault or rape during the years indicated in Table 1 were counted.
[1] Includes ‘Sexual Assault’ and ‘Aggravated Sexual Assault’ incident types
[2] Includes ‘Rape of a Female’ and ‘Rape Section 4’ incident types
[3] Year in this case is the year that incidents were reported. If an individual reported more than one incident in a particular year they are only counted once per year. The person who reported the incident is not necessarily the injured party.
[4] Counts are of PULSE Prisoner/Custody Logs according to the year in which the arrest took place. If more than one log was associated with the same person and incident then only the earliest recorded log is counted. An individual may be counted more than once per year if they were associated with more than one incident.
[5] Similar to B but each person is only counted once per year.
[6] Year in this case is the year in which the Charge or Summons was created on PULSE. If more than one Charge/Summons was associated with the same person and incident then only the earliest record is counted. An individual may be counted more than once per year if they were Charged/Summonsed in relation to more than one incident.
[7] Similar to D but each person in only counted once per year.
