Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 30 Apr 1998

Vol. 490 No. 4

Written Answers. - Crime Levels.

Dinny McGinley

Ceist:

136 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the disturbing increase in crime figures for County Donegal; and the action, if any, he will take to provide the extra resources to reverse this upward trend. [10295/98]

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

The Garda authorities are responsible for the detailed deployment of Garda personnel and resources to individual areas. They have informed me that the personnel strength of the Donegal division for the period from 31 December 1995 to date is as follows:—

Date	Number of Gardaí (all ranks)
31/12/1995	451
31/12/1996	449
31/12/1997	440
31/03/1998	442

The indictable crime statistics for the Donegal Garda division for each of the years 1994 to 1997 is outlined in the following table:

Year	Recorded	Detected	Detection Rate
1994	1,532	831	54%
1995	1,420	646	45%
1996	1,398	687	49%
1997*	1,583	872	56%

*1997 figures are provisional

I am informed by the Garda authorities that while there has been an increase in recorded crimes for the Donegal Garda division in recent times the detection rate has risen significantly for the same period. I further understand from them that in an effort to combat crime, preventative patrols are performed on a 24 hour basis in all districts, with extra patrols at weekends or on special occasions. Scheduled checkpoints are carried out on a regular basis with both uniform and Detective Branch personnel monitoring the movements of criminals and suspected criminals. Furthermore, crime figures are monitored on an ongoing basis, with resources deployed as and where necessary to combat changing trends.