Following the publication of the fifth Review of the Quality of Crime Statistics in October 2023, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has lifted the 'Under Reservation' categorisation around Recorded Crime Statistics. This is possible because An Garda Síochána have introduced a range of quality measures over the last number of years which have resulted in sustained improvement in the quality of the underlying crime data. These changes give a level of assurance to users that they can rely on Recorded Crime Statistics.
For further information see our Lifting of Under Reservation categorisation for Recorded Crime Statistics FAQ page.
Recorded incidents of Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences were up by 26% or 531 to 2,601 between 2022 and 2023, driven mostly a rise in Blackmail or Extortion and Robbery from the Person offences.
Crime incidents involving Theft & Related offences were up by 12% or by 8,169 to 74,144 incidents over the full year. Nearly half (46%) of the increase was due to a growing number of incidents of Theft from Shops.
Recorded incidents of Homicide & Related offences were down by 19% to 65 incidents over the year. Most of this decrease was accounted for by a fall in the number incidents classed as Murder offences.
Crime incidents involving Sexual offences were down 11% to 3,354 reported incidents while those involving Public Order & Other Social Code offences were down by 8%.
Victims of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences fell by 4% in Q4 2023 when compared with Q4 2022. The number of male victims fell by 4% while the number of female victims was down by 3%.
The CSO published its fifth CSO Review of the Quality of Recorded Crime Statistics in October 2023. As part of this review the CSO has lifted the ‘Under Reservation’ designation from all Recorded Crime data disseminated after Quarter 1 (Q1) 2023.
An Garda Síochána (AGS) has worked over the past number of years to advance the assurance levels that can be provided around Garda PULSE data, and in particular the quality management developments of 2022 and 2023. This work has seen the development of quality assurance processes by AGS over the period which has culminated in the implementation of a more formal data quality management system by AGS.
The recorded crime series has been progressively improving over time with the cumulative impact of the improved data quality, assessment, and assurance measures being seen in a higher data quality level as noted in various CSO reviews in recent years.
Given the new AGS controls for quality checking and reporting, coupled with the CSO reserving the right to do its own reviews, a level of assurance has been provided warranting the lifting of the "Under Reservation” categorisation.
However, users should exercise some judgement when using data produced in the earlier years of the recorded crime time series given the legacy quality issues which have been commented on in various reviews. For instance, detections data pre and post-2018 are not comparable given the improved governance controls introduced in that year. The CSO will continue to inform users of the quality of the data they are using, and of any particular issues which may need to be noted around time series comparability as they arise.
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 March 2023) released Recorded Crime Quarter 4 (Q4) 2023.
Commenting on the publication, Jim Dalton, Statistician in the Crime & Criminal Justice Section, said: “Recorded Crime statistics published today for October, November and December, (Q4) 2023 showed that Robbery and Theft crimes were up in 2023 compared with a year earlier, while Homicide & Related offences was down.
Crime Trends in 2023
Recorded crime incidents of Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences were up by 26% or by 531 to 2,601 incidents between 2022 and 2023. Most of this increase was accounted for by Blackmail or Extortion and Robbery from the Person offences.
Theft & Related offences were up by 12% or 8,169 to 74,144 incidents over the same period. About half (46%) of the increase in the number of incidents were due to Theft from Shops. There were also small increases in recorded crime incidents relating to Weapons & Explosives offences (+5%), Damage to Property & the Environment (+3%) and Burglary & Related offences (+1%). The number of recorded incidents of Controlled Drug offences remained virtually unchanged over the year.
By contrast, incidents of Homicide & Related offences were down by 19% from 80 to 65 incidents over the same period. This was due mostly to a fall in incidents of Murder. Recorded incidents of Sexual offences were down 11% to 3,354 incidents.
All other crime categories fell over the year with the highest rates of decrease being for Public Order & Other Social Code offences (-8%) and Dangerous or Negligent Acts (-7%). The number of recorded crime incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences fell by 3% to 11,292 over the year.
Analysis of Changing Crime Trends since 2019
The number of recorded incidents of Burglary & Related offences fell from 16,750 in 2019 to 10,884 in 2020 and then to 8,584 such incidents in 2021 which coincided with COVID-19 public health restrictions in place at the time. As restrictions were lifted, the number of incidents then rose to 9,465 in 2022. In 2023, there were 9,545 incidents but this was 43% less than the levels recorded in 2019.
The number of incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences in 2023 at 11,292 was 43% more than the 7,921 incidents in 2019. The number of recorded crime incidents for this category more than doubled to a high of 17,124 in 2021 before falling to back to 11,689 in 2022.
Crime Trends among Garda Regions in 2023
The number of crime incidents fell across all four Garda regions for three of the 14 offence groups between 2022 and 2023. These included Sexual offences, Public Order & Other Social Code offences and Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime.
In a further three offence groups, the number of crime incidents rose across Garda regions and these were Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences, Theft & Related offence and Weapons & Explosives.
The experience across regions was mixed for the remaining offence groups.
Victims of Assault offences
Victims of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences during Q4 2023 fell by 4% from the same period in 2022. The number of male victims was down by 4% while female victims decreased by 3%.
When you look at the profile of victims by age and sex, there was a mixed experience for male victims of different age groups. There were decreases in the number of victims under 18 years of age (-14%) and those between 45-59 years (-8%) and 18-29 years (-4%). However, the number of victims aged 60 years or more rose by 5% while those aged 30-44 years went up by 1%.
The number of female victims of assault fell across all age groups, except those aged 60 years or more. The number of female victims aged 60 years or more increased by 12% while the highest rate of decrease was for those under 18 years of age (-11%). For all other age groups, the rate of decrease was between 2% and 3%.
Impact of COVID-19 on Data for 2020 and 2021
Data for 2020 and 2021 for some crime categories are likely to have been influenced by the public health restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19.”