Vol. 502 No. 6
289 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 526 of 23 March 1999 the proportion of reported crimes subsequently recorded by the Garda; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8987/99]
I am informed by the Garda authorities that incidents reported to the gardaí which are subsequently discovered to have disclosed a breach of the criminal law are always recorded as crimes. In certain circumstances, members of the public report what they believe are crimes to the gardaí, but which when investigated fail to disclose a breach of the criminal law.
I understand that statistics recording the number of incidents reported by members of the public, and which fail to disclose a breach of the criminal law are not gathered by the Garda Síochána. It is, therefore, not possible to give the proportion of reported incidents which are subsequently recorded by the gardaí as crimes.
