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 recorded crime incidents rose for 11 out of 15 offence groups (excluding group 16 - Offences not elsewhere classified) in the 12 months to Quarter 2 (Q2) 2026 compared with Q2 2025.
The largest rates of increase were for Dangerous or Negligent Acts (+11%), Fraud, Deception & Related offences (+9%), Controlled Drug offences (+8%), and Weapons & Explosives offences (+6%).
The number of recorded crime incidents fell across all Garda regions for just one offence group (Sexual offences) in the year to Q2 2026. For other offence groups, the experience varied across regions.
The number of people recorded as victims of Assaults & Related offences increased by 2% to 6,410 in Q2 2026 compared with Q2 2025. Within this figure, female victims were up by 4% to 2,659 victims while the number of male victims remained virtually unchanged at 3,751 victims.
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 (01 October 2026) published Recorded Crime Quarter 2 (Q2) 2026.
Commenting on the release, Jim Dalton, Statistician in the Crime & Criminal Justice Section, said: “Recorded Crime statistics published today for April, May, and June (Q2 2026) showed that the number of crime incidents rose for most offence groups in the 12 months to Q2 2026 compared with Q2 2025.
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, and Assault. Please visit the Background Notes for further information.
Crime Trends in the Year to Q2 2026
The number of recorded crime incidents increased for 11 out of 15 offence groups (excluding group 16 - Offences not elsewhere classified) in the 12 months to Q2 2026 compared with Q2 2025.
The largest rates of increase were for Dangerous or Negligent Acts (+11%), Fraud, Deception & Related offences (+9%), Controlled Drug offences (+8%), and Weapons & Explosives offences (+6%).
For those offence groups where there was a fall in the number of crime incidents, the largest rates of decrease were for Sexual offences (-19%), Homicide & Related offences (-9%), and Burglary & Related offences (-6%).
It should be noted that recorded crime incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences in this publication 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 experience of recorded crime varied across Garda regions in the year to Q2 2026 when compared with the same period in 2025.
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 rose by 4% or 110 to 2,659 victims in Q2 2026 from Q2 2025. This was driven mainly by an increase in victims aged 30 to 44 years (+23 victims) and those aged 45 to 59 years (+74 victims).
The number of male victims remained virtually unchanged at 3,751 victims in Q2 2026.
The overall number of people recorded as victims of this type of offence rose by 2% to 6,410 in Q2 2026 compared with Q2 2025. The highest rate of increase was among victims who were aged 45 to 59 years (+6%) when the incident took place. The data also shows that the age breakdown of male and female victims has remained relatively stable in Q2 of each year since 2023.”