Press Statement

Preasráiteas

08 July 2020

Go to release: Crime and Victimisation 2019

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (8 July 2020) published the results of its most recent Crime and Victimisation Survey which was collected during Q2 and Q3 2019.

Commenting on the release, Sam Scriven, Statistician, said: ‘Crime and Victimisation is a household survey which asks about people’s experiences, perceptions and reactions to crime in Ireland.

In 2019, three quarters (75%) of persons aged 18 and over said they felt “very safe” or “fairly safe” walking in their local area at night. The proportion of those who felt “a little unsafe” or “very unsafe” walking in their local area at night was higher for women (36%) than men (13%), and higher in the most disadvantaged areas of the country (31%) than in the most affluent areas (21%).

More than two-thirds (68%) of persons aged 18 and over said they felt that An Garda Síochána were “very effective” or “quite effective” at tackling crime in their local area. One in ten (10%) said they felt the Gardaí were “not effective at all”.

One in ten (10%) persons aged 18 years and over said that they had been a victim of a violent or non-violent theft or attempted theft, an assault or a fraud crime in the 12 months prior to interview. Younger people were more likely to be a victim of these types of crime, 14% of persons aged 18-29 said they had been a victim compared to 5% of people aged over 60. Dublin had the highest rate of victimisation for these types of crime (13%).

One in 25 households (4%) said they had suffered either a burglary or vandalism to their property in the 12 months prior to interview, with the highest rates in Dublin (6%) and lowest rates in the Border and West regions (both 2%). Around six out of ten households (59%) reported these incidents to An Garda Síochána, with the main reason given for non-reporting by households being that the incident wasn’t considered serious enough.’

The CSO thanks participating households for their time and trust in agreeing to take part in this and other household surveys.

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