The CSO in December 2024 and March 2025 provided updates to users on the impact on Fraud crime statistics of the backlog in the recording of potential fraud related crime incidents reported to An Garda Síochána (AGS) by Financial Institutions under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2011 on the PULSE system.
The CSO is advised by AGS that it continues to work on the backlog of Section 19 referrals from Financial Institutions and is making progress on this issue. In addition, work is ongoing by AGS to extend an existing reporting portal to handle Section 19 referrals. This system will improve the consistency and efficiency of the reporting process for Financial Institutions.
In view of this ongoing work, the CSO will continue to publish statistics on recorded crime incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences based only on those directly reported to AGS by members of the public and recorded on the Garda PULSE system. The CSO will continue to exclude incidents of Fraud that have arisen from Section 19 referrals until this data can be coherently included in official crime statistics.
Therefore, users should continue to exercise caution in the interpretation of published statistics on recorded crime incidents of this offence type.
The number of female victims of crime incidents of Assaults & Related offences rose by 8% to 2,460 victims in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2026 compared with Q1 2025. The number of male victims rose by 1% to 3,334 victims. In total, the number of victims of this offence group went up by 4% to 5,794 between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026.
The number of recorded crime incidents fell for 6 of the 15 offence groups (excluding Offences not elsewhere classified) in the 12 months to Q1 2026 when compared with Q1 2025. The highest rates of decrease were for Homicide & Related offences (-27%), Sexual offences (-15%), Burglary & Related offences (-9%), and Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (-7%).
Among the offence groups where the number of crime incidents rose, the largest rates of increase were for those of Dangerous or Negligent Acts (+6%) and Weapons & Explosives offences (+6%) while for the other offence groups, the rate of increase was between 1% and 4%.
Users should note that the Recorded Crime release refers to the number of recorded crime incidents rather than offences.
An offence is a breach of a law or rule, an illegal act.
A crime incident can be described as an event where one or more offences are committed by the same offender, or group of offenders acting in concert, at the same time and place.
Example:
A singular crime incident takes place and is classified as relating to Public Order. The Gardaí establish that one person is responsible for this crime and that person is charged with three separate offences relating to this crime incident, namely,
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (25 June 2026) published Recorded Crime Quarter 1 (Q1) 2026.
Commenting on the release, Jim Dalton, Statistician in the Crime & Criminal Justice Section, said: “Recorded Crime statistics published today for January, February, and March (Q1 2026) showed that the number of crime incidents fell for 6 of the 15 offence groups (excluding group 16, Offences not elsewhere classified) in the 12 months to Q1 2026 compared with Q1 2025.
The largest rates of decrease were for crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences (-27%), Sexual offences (-15%), Burglary & Related offences (-9%), and Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (-7%). The rate of decrease was 4% for the remaining offence groups that were down in the 12 months to Q1 2026.
For those offence groups where the number of crime incidents rose, the largest rates of increase were for those of Dangerous or Negligent Acts (+6%) and Weapons & Explosives offences (+6%). The rate of increase was between 1% and 4% for the remainder.
The statistics in this release relate only to crime incidents that have been reported to An Garda Síochána (AGS) and recorded on their PULSE system. While these statistics provide data on the reported level of crime for these offence groups, they do not provide an indicator of the overall prevalence of crime, given there is likely to be an element of under reporting in many crime types, such as those related to Sexual offences, Fraud, or Assault. Please visit the Background Notes for further information.
The CSO has incorporated the revised Garda Divisional structure under the new Garda Operating Model into statistical reporting on its PxStat statistical database. Historical divisional data has now been revised to reflect this new structure. This new operating model sees a reduction from 28 to 21 in the number of Garda Divisions. Please visit the Background Notes for further details.
Crime Trends in the Year to Q1 2026
The number of recorded crime incidents fell for 6 of the 15 offence groups (excluding group 16, Offences not elsewhere classified) in the 12 months to Q1 2026 compared with Q1 2025.
The largest rates of decrease were for Homicide & Related offences (-27%), Sexual offences (-15%), Burglary & Related offences (-9%), and Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (-7%). The rate of decrease in the number of crime incidents from 2025 among all other offence groups that declined (excluding group 16, Offences not other elsewhere classified) was 4% while there was no change in those of Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime.
For those offence groups where the number of crime incidents rose, the largest rates of increase were for those of Dangerous or Negligent Acts (+6%) and Weapons & Explosives offences (+6%). The rate of increase was between 1% and 4% for the remainder.
It should be noted that crime incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences continue to relate only to those reported directly to AGS by members of the public and do not include those reported by financial institutions as required under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2011.
Crime Trends Among Garda Regions in 2025
The number of recorded crime incidents fell across all Garda Regions for 4 out of 15 offence groups (excluding group 16, Offences not elsewhere classified) in the year to Q1 2026 compared with the year to Q1 2025. The most significant of these were as follows:
For most other offence groups, the experience across Garda regions was mixed.
Victims of Assault & Related Offences
Assault & Related offences refer to the offence group Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences.
The number of female victims of Assault & Related offences increased by 8% to 2,460 victims in Q1 2026 from Q1 2025. There were increases in the number of victims across all age groups over the period: female victims who were under 18 years of age at the time of the incident (+19%), those aged 45-49 (+12%), and victims aged 60 years and over (+10%). The number of victims in the 18-29 and 30-44 age groups rose by 4% and 6%, respectively.
The number of male victims went up by 1% to 3,334 victims over the period: male victims who were under 18 years of age when the incident took place (+ 2%), those aged 18-29 years (+4%), and victims aged 45-59 years (+3%). In the other age groups, the number of victims aged 30-44 years fell by 2% while those victims who were at least 60 years of age were down by 4%.
The overall number of people recorded as victims of this offence type increased by 4% to 5,794 in Q1 2026 compared with Q1 2025. The highest rates of increase were among victims who were under 18 years of age when the incident took place (+8%) and those aged 45-59 years (+7%).
However, the age breakdown of male and female victims has remained relatively stable in Q1 of each year since 2023.
Analysis of Changing Crime Trends Since 2023
The number of recorded crime incidents fell for 8 of the 15 offence groups over the four-year period between the year to Q1 2023 and the year to Q1 2026. The change for Fraud, Deception & Related offences is not available.
Between the year to Q1 2023 and the year to Q1 2026, the most significant decreases were:
However, crime incidents of Weapons & Explosives rose by 22% to 3,142 incidents over the period as did those of Theft & Related offences which were up by 8% to 74,641 crime incidents.”