Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:137 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the extent to which serious crime has risen here in the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3107/03]
Written Answers. - Crime Levels.
Although in the period 1996 to 2000, the figures for recorded indictable crime showed an overall decrease of approximately 27% and the 2001 figures showed a disappointing increase over the previous year of 18%, serious crime has still fallen since 1996 by approximately 14% overall. The Deputy will be aware that the crime statistics since the year 2000 are not directly comparable with those of previous years. This is due to the altered format of the annual report of the Garda Síochána since 2000 following the introduction of the PULSE system. In the following table, for each of the years 1996 to 1999, the number of indictable offences is given. The figures for 2000 and 2001 represent the new category of headline offences.
|
Year |
Offences |
% Change on 1996 |
|
1996 |
100,785 |
– |
|
1997 |
90,875 |
9.8 |
|
1998 |
85,627 |
15.0 |
|
1999 |
81,274 |
19.4 |
|
2000 |
73,276 |
27.3 |
|
2001 |
86,633 |
14.0 |
I am informed by the Garda authorities that statistics for the year 2002 are currently being validated and are therefore not yet available.