This chapter relates to the impact that crime had on respondents’ lives in the 12 months preceding the interview and their opinions on how effectively crime is dealt with in Ireland by An Garda Síochána (AGS) and the wider criminal justice system. Crimes causing physical injury or harm are referred to as 'Physical Assault'.
The results show that people aged 18 years or over were increasingly worried about being victims of selected crime types in 2025 compared with 2019. This is evident in the higher percentage of people who reported worrying all the time or often about being a victim alongside a decline in the share of people who indicated that they did not worry at all.
In 2025, 23% of people surveyed worried all the time or often about the possibility of being a victim of Physical Assault compared with 15% in 2019. Meanwhile, the share of people who did not worry at all fell from 51% in 2019 to 32% in 2025. However, the share of people who rarely worried increased from 35% to 46% over the period.
For crimes that could result in damage or loss of property, just under a quarter (24%) of people did not worry at all about victimisation in 2025, a decrease from 42% in 2019. The share of respondents who worried all the time or often rose from 23% to 33% over the period while those who rarely worried increased from 35% to 43%.
The share of people who worried all the time or often more than doubled for crimes such as internet-related crime (e.g., Identity Theft) and fraud between 2019 and 2025, with fraud related concerns increasing from 20% to 45% and internet-related crimes also rising from 20% to 45%. Meanwhile, for those who did not worry at all, the patterns regarding worry about becoming victims of internet-related crimes and fraud were quite similar between 2019 and 2025. In 2025, 21% of those surveyed did not worry at all about being a victim of fraud, down from 47% in 2019. The figures for internet-related crime mirrored this decline with 23% of people not worried at all compared with 49% in 2019 (See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1).
Across all crime types, females expressed greater concern than males about the possibility of being victims of crime.
In 2025, 29% of females reported that they worried all the time or often about the possibility of becoming a victim of Physical Assault, an increase from 19% in 2019. For males, the corresponding figures were 11% in 2019 and 17% in 2025.
In terms of crime leading to a loss of or damage to property, 36% of females worried all the time or often about becoming a victim compared with 29% of males. In 2019, 23% of females and 22% of males reported similar concerns.
Almost half (48%) of females in 2025 were worried all the time or often about being a victim of Fraud crime compared with 41% of males. Both figures saw a significant increase from the 19% recorded for each gender in 2019. A similar pattern was observed regarding concerns about internet-related crime, with 48% of females and 42% of males expressing worry all the time or often in 2025, up from 21% of females and 19% of males in 2019 (See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1).
Just over half (52%) of people surveyed reported feeling very safe while walking in their local area, whether alone or accompanied, while an additional 33% felt fairly safe. Those who reported feeling a little unsafe comprised 12% of the total, and 3% indicated that they felt very unsafe.
The perception of safety differed between males and females. A higher proportion of males (61%) felt very safe walking in their local area compared with 44% of females, but the share of females increased with the decline in the perception of safety. For example, 37% of females felt fairly safe compared with 29% of males and 20% of females felt a little unsafe or very unsafe compared with 11% of males (See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2).
More people in 2025 indicated that crime and anti-social behaviour in their local area had an effect on their quality of life than in 2019.
In terms of crime, 16% of respondents in 2025 said that crime in their local area impacted their quality of life to a great or little extent up from 13% in 2019. An additional 22% of respondents in 2025 said that the impact was limited (‘not very much’) compared with 20% in 2019. More than six in ten (62%) said that crime had no impact on their quality of life in 2025 compared with 67% in 2019.
Anti-social behaviour in their local area impacted on the quality of life to a great or little extent on 18% of respondents in 2025 compared with 12% in 2019. More than one-fifth (23%) reported a limited effect (‘not very much’), compared with 17% in 2019. Almost one in six (59%) respondents said that anti-social behaviour had no effect on their quality of life, compared with 71% in 2019 (See Table 2.3).
Respondents were asked about their view on the effectiveness of AGS in addressing crime at both local and national levels. In 2025, 57% of respondents viewed AGS as very effective (15%) or quite effective (42%) at tackling crime in their local area, a decrease from 68% in 2019. Almost three in ten (28%) respondents in 2025 rated AGS as not very effective while 14% considered them not effective at all, up from 21% and 10% respectively in 2019.
At national level, a lower percentage (49%) than at the local level felt that AGS were very effective or quite effective compared with 64% in 2019. Furthermore, a larger proportion of people in 2025 (51%) rated AGS as not very effective or not effective at all compared with 35% in 2019.
Perceptions of the effectiveness of AGS increased with age at both local and national levels. Among respondents aged 18 to 29 years at local level, 55% believed that AGS were very effective or quite effective in tackling local crime, compared with 66% of those aged 60 years and over. The comparable figures at national level were 42% of the 18 to 29 year age group and 60% of those aged 60 years and over (See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.4).
In 2025, 43% of people surveyed felt very confident or quite confident that the wider justice system was bringing people who commit crime to justice in Ireland. This represented a decrease from 46% in 2019. At the same time, the percentage of people who were not very confident rose from 37% to 43%, while those not confident at all decreased from 18% to 15% (See Table 2.5).
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