Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 15 Nov 2000

Vol. 526 No. 1

Written Answers. - Street Violence.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

129 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of incidents of street violence culminating in injury or loss of life reported in the past 12 months; if his attention has been drawn to the tendency not to report such incidents; if prosecutions have followed in all reported cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25851/00]

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

I recently made a detailed statement on this topic in my response to Priority Questions Nos. 1, 2 and 5 on 5 October last.

I regret that it has not been possible in the time available to compile the statistics in the format requested by the Deputy. I will contact the Deputy again when the information is to hand.

With regard to the possible under-reporting of these offences, the Deputy is no doubt aware of the findings of the recent CSO crime victimis ation survey suggesting that 63% of all assaults are reported to the gardaí. While there are general claims of under-reporting of crime, there is no evidence that the level of under-reporting now is any greater than in the past.