Crime Levels.

Tuesday, 4 April 2006

Ceisteanna (385, 386, 387)

Olwyn Enright

Ceist:

413 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of crimes recorded and detected across all headings in Laois-Offaly Garda division for the years 1997 to 2005; inclusive, and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12933/06]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

I am informed by the Garda authorities that the following table provides the total number of headline offences, by group, recorded and detected in the Garda division of Laois-Offaly for the years 2000 to 2005, inclusive.

The introduction of the PULSE computer system by the Garda Síochána in 1999 has led to more complete and comprehensive recording of crimes reported than was previously the case. Consequently the statistics provided for 1997 are not comparable to statistics provided for 2000 and subsequent years. The figures provided for 2000 and 2001 are incomplete due to the phased implementation of PULSE. The first full year captured is 2002 and is a more accurate base year to use.

It should be borne in mind that any interpretation of the crime figures should factor in the increase in our population in the past ten years. In 1995, with a population of almost 3.6 million people, there were 29 crimes per 1,000 of the population. In 2005, with a population of more than 4.1 million, there were 24.6 crimes per 1,000 of the population, a reduction of 4.4 crimes per 1,000 of the population. To put this in context, during the two full years of the rainbow coalition Government, with a population of 600,000 less than at present, the headline crime figures were as follows: 102,484 in 1995; and 100,785 in 1996.

Headline offences recorded and detected for the Garda division of Laois-Offaly for the years 2000 to 2005

	2005*	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000
	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det
Homicide	1	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	1	2	2
Assault	128	109	136	114	105	95	151	134	92	79	47	44
Sexual Offences	44	25	30	26	48	23	68	49	85	73	26	23
Arson	32	9	27	9	26	14	13	7	12	7	17	5
Drugs	113	113	97	94	94	91	70	68	71	71	39	39
Theft	1,287	549	1,203	516	1,370	551	1,182	496	666	311	594	304
Burglary	725	167	700	156	646	129	714	161	621	165	598	142
Robbery	26	9	20	10	20	10	32	15	15	7	18	11
Fraud	121	105	125	109	78	67	134	114	149	134	79	70
Other	70	63	62	56	30	26	27	16	19	16	12	11
Total	2,547	1,150	2,400	1,090	2,419	1,007	2,391	1,060	1,731	864	1,432	651

* Figures provided are provisional, operational and liable to change.

Jimmy Deenihan

Ceist:

414 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of crimes recorded and detected across all headings in Kerry Garda division for the years 1997 to 2005, inclusive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12934/06]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

It has not been possible in the time available to compile the information requested by the Deputy. I will contact the Deputy again when the information is to hand.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

415 Mr. J. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of crimes recorded and detected across all headings in Cork north and Cork west Garda division for the years 1997 to 2005, inclusive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12935/06]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

I am informed by the Garda authorities that the following tables provide the total number of headline offences, by group, recorded and detected in the Garda divisions of Cork north and Cork west for the years 2000 to 2005, inclusive.

It should also be noted that the headline offence of homicide includes not only murder and manslaughter but also the other homicide offences of infanticide, abortion, attempted murder and threat to murder. Over the six year period shown in the table for the Garda division of Cork north three murders were recorded with three detected and two manslaughters were recorded with two detected. In the same period in the Garda division of Cork west no murders were recorded, and one manslaughter was recorded that has not been detected to date.

Headline offences recorded and detected for the Garda division of Cork north for the years 2000 to 2005

	2005*	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000
	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det
Homicide	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	3	1	1	0	0
Assault	114	82	87	65	133	90	160	133	88	72	60	60
Sexual Offences	46	18	28	13	55	28	92	65	65	51	19	18
Arson	30	12	14	6	27	5	27	7	13	3	10	4
Drugs	80	72	70	64	49	45	64	62	41	41	37	37
Theft	977	389	826	306	1036	260	983	222	715	250	605	288
Burglary	526	154	409	99	484	84	534	100	435	114	331	115
Robbery	15	7	11	2	13	3	15	3	8	5	6	4
Fraud	99	64	96	82	122	86	85	44	59	50	72	67
Other	67	56	30	25	33	22	40	29	21	18	7	6
Total	1,955	855	1,571	662	1,952	623	2,003	668	1,446	605	1,147	599

* Figures are provisional, operational and liable to change.

Headline offences recorded and detected for the Garda division of Cork west for the years 2000 to 2005

	2005*	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000
	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det
	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det
Homicide	3	2	1	1	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
Assault	113	95	132	114	118	100	125	104	100	91	66	62
Sexual Offences	35	19	40	23	26	19	45	37	26	23	72	71
Arson	26	12	25	11	29	11	24	9	26	15	5	1
Drugs	42	42	30	30	56	56	53	53	42	42	26	26
Theft	700	323	727	282	699	196	719	273	533	202	445	180
Burglary	322	109	289	98	286	87	370	89	390	119	329	115
Robbery	8	7	3	3	5	2	11	6	7	4	3	2
Fraud	92	73	49	38	96	72	130	107	120	101	59	45
Other	50	41	26	20	33	29	25	23	15	14	9	9
Total	1,391	723	1,322	620	1,348	572	1,504	703	1,259	611	1,014	511

* Figures are provisional, operational and liable to change.