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Recorded Crime Detection 2023

Regional Analysis

Dublin generally experiences more crime but has lower detection rates

Online ISSN: 2711-9971

CSO statistical release, 27 November 2024, 11am

Lifting of Under Reservation Categorisation

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.

In general, while the recorded crime rate was highest for the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) in 2023, the rate of crime detection was lower for most offence groups for this region. See Background Notes for full breakdown of regions.

The crime detection rate is the percentage share of recorded crime that has been marked as detected by An Garda Síochána.

The recorded crime rate was highest for the DMR in all but two of the fourteen offence groups in 2023, namely Homicide & Related offences and Dangerous or Negligent Acts. However, the crime detection rate was highest for the DMR in only three of the fourteen offence groups for the same period. See Figures 3.1, 3.2, Tables 3.1 and 3.2.

The recorded crime rate is the number of recorded crime incidents relative to the population, expressed as a rate per 100,000 people. Figures are based on Census of Population 2022 figures for each region.

Higher crime rates for most crimes in Dublin Metropolitan region

The data shows that for crime rates per 100,000 of the population for 2023:

The rate for the DMR for Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences was 97 incidents per 100,000 people which was nearly twice the level for the State (49 incidents per 100,000 people).
The rate for Theft & Related offences for the DMR at 2,522 incidents per 100,000 people was nearly twice the State figure of 1,398 incidents per 100,000 people and more than three times as much as the North Western
The rate for the DMR was 260 incidents per 100,000 people for Burglary & Related offences compared with the next highest rate of 172 incidents per 100,000 people for the Eastern region. The rate for the State was 181 incidents per 100,000 people.
The rate of 592 incidents per 100,000 people for Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime for the DMR was over twice the State level of 289 incidents per 100,000 people and about three times that of each of the Eastern and Southern regions.

The exceptions were:

Homicide & Related offences, where the rate (2 incidents per 100,000 people) was highest for the North Western and Southern regions compared with a rate of one incident per 100,000 people for the DMR.
The rate for Dangerous or Negligent Acts which was highest for the North Western region at 182 incidents per 100,000 people and lowest in the DMR region at 114 incidents per 100,000 people. The rates for the Eastern and Southern regions were 146 and 148 incidents per 100,000 people, respectively.

Lower detection rates in Dublin for several crimes

The data also shows that the crime detection rate for the DMR was lower than some of the other regions for 11 out of the 14 crime offence groups in 2023. Among these were

Homicide & Related offences where the detection rate in the DMR was 61% compared to a rate of 92% for the Eastern region and 91% for the Southern region.
Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences with a detection rate of 22% compared to between 29% and 33% for the other regions.
Theft & Related offences – the detection rate for the DMR was 26% compared to 38% for the Southern region which was the highest among all the regions.
Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences where the detection rate for the DMR was 24% compared to 25% for the Southern Region and 26% for the Eastern region.

However, the detection rate for the DMR was highest for Controlled Drugs offences at 83%, Weapons & Explosives offences (78%), and Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime (66%). The DMR also had the highest crime rates among the regions for these offence groups.

Table 3.1 Recorded crime rate and crime incident detection rate for crime incidents reported in 2023 classified by offence group and Garda administrative region

Table 3.1 Recorded crime rate¹ and crime incident detection rate² for crime incidents reported in 2023³ classified by offence group and Garda administrative region ⁴
	Crimes
ICCS Offence Group/Garda Administrative Region	Recorded	Recorded crime rate 100,000 persons¹	Detected	Crime incident detection rate² (%)
01 Homicide & Related offences
State	74	1	61	82
Dublin Metropolitan	18	1	11	61
North Western Region	21	2	18	86
Eastern Region	13	1	12	92
Southern Region	22	2	20	91

02 Sexual offences
State	3,407	65	264	8
Dublin Metropolitan	1,072	72	98	9
North Western Region	769	69	37	5
Eastern Region	808	58	80	10
Southern Region	758	59	49	6

03 Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences
State	23,870	452	6,649	28
Dublin Metropolitan	7,833	524	1,716	22
North Western Region	4,993	446	1,561	31
Eastern Region	5,364	386	1,746	33
Southern Region	5,680	444	1,626	29

04 Dangerous or Negligent Acts
State	7,651	145	6,405	84
Dublin Metropolitan	1,701	114	1,349	79
North Western Region	2,033	182	1,719	85
Eastern Region	2,027	146	1,756	87
Southern Region	1,890	148	1,581	84

05 Kidnapping & Related offences
State	147	3	48	33
Dublin Metropolitan	54	4	17	31
North Western Region	29	3	11	38
Eastern Region	29	2	8	28
Southern Region	35	3	12	34

06 Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences
State	2,607	49	611	23
Dublin Metropolitan	1,453	97	347	24
North Western Region	295	26	44	15
Eastern Region	420	30	111	26
Southern Region	439	34	109	25

07 Burglary & Related offences
State	9,560	181	2,108	22
Dublin Metropolitan	3,895	260	904	23
North Western Region	1,660	148	283	17
Eastern Region	2,390	172	462	19
Southern Region	1,615	126	459	28

08 Theft & Related offences
State	73,813	1,398	23,005	31
Dublin Metropolitan	37,726	2,522	9,706	26
North Western Region	8,430	753	2,996	36
Eastern Region	14,462	1,042	5,286	37
Southern Region	13,195	1,032	5,017	38

09 Fraud, Deception & Related offences
State	12,352	234	977	8
Dublin Metropolitan	4,673	312	353	8
North Western Region	2,328	208	187	8
Eastern Region	2,852	205	266	9
Southern Region	2,499	196	171	7

10 Controlled Drug offences
State	17,284	327	13,688	79
Dublin Metropolitan	6,599	441	5,467	83
North Western Region	2,255	201	1,512	67
Eastern Region	4,648	335	3,775	81
Southern Region	3,782	296	2,934	78

11 Weapons & Explosives offences
State	2,762	54	1,966	71
Dublin Metropolitan	1,233	86	960	78
North Western Region	439	40	281	64
Eastern Region	521	39	358	69
Southern Region	569	45	367	64

12 Damage to Property & to the Environment
State	22,443	425	4,564	20
Dublin Metropolitan	9,097	608	1,668	18
North Western Region	3,849	344	906	24
Eastern Region	4,834	348	1,085	22
Southern Region	4,663	365	905	19

13 Public Order & Other Social Code offences
State	28,846	546	23,781	82
Dublin Metropolitan	10,236	684	8,287	81
North Western Region	5,775	516	4,673	81
Eastern Region	5,851	422	4,929	84
Southern Region	6,984	546	5,892	84

15 Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime
State	15,260	289	9,623	63
Dublin Metropolitan	8,861	592	5,850	66
North Western Region	1,465	131	896	61
Eastern Region	2,362	170	1,440	61
Southern Region	2,572	201	1,437	56
¹ Recorded crime rate is the number of recorded crime incidents relative to the population, expressed as a rate per 100,000 people.
² Crime incident detection rate is the number of detected incidents divided by the number of recorded incidents. A detected incident means at least one suspected offender has been sanctioned.
³ Data extracted 2nd September 2024.
⁴ Regional figures reflect the Garda administrative regions which became operational during 2019. These are now undergoing further restructuring and future publications will take account of these changes when finalised.