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 by Financial Institutions under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2011 on the PULSE system.
The CSO is advised by An Garda Síochána 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 An Garda Síochána 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 incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences based on those directly reported to An Garda Síochána by members of the public and recorded on the Garda PULSE system. Therefore, users should continue to exercise caution in the interpretation of published statistics on recorded crime incidents of this offence type as they are below the overall reported level and should be considered incomplete.
Fixed charge notices can be issued by An Garda Síochána for a wide variety of offences, including many road traffic and some public order offences. They provide an offender the opportunity to pay a fine to avoid prosecution. In December 2020, additional fixed charge notice offences were introduced for breaches of COVID-19 regulations.
The Garda Fixed Charge Processing System (FCPS) database is used to administer the issuing of fixed charge notices. The number of offences for which fixed charge notices were issued for years 2018 to 2024 is given in Table 6.1.
Users should note when looking at this table that there were varying COVID-19 restrictions in place for 2020 and 2021. These had an impact on levels of offending, for example, reduced traffic volumes, increased Garda road checkpoints, closure of licensed premises, etc.
The results show that:
| X-axis label | Percentage Change |
|---|---|
| Driving/In Charge of a Vehicle while over Legal Alcohol limit (0412) | 1 |
| Dangerous/Careless Driving & Motorway offences (0414) | 10 |
| Speeding (0415) | -11 |
| Endangerment with Potential for Serious Harm/Death (0421) | 0 |
| Endangering Traffic offences (0425) | 100 |
| Disorderly Conduct (131) | -16 |
| Driving Licence/Insurance offences (141) | 25 |
| Vehicle Tax/Registration offences (142) | 5 |
| Roadworthiness/Regulatory offences (143) | 5 |
| Road Transport/Public Service Vehicles offences (144) | 12 |
| Offences Against Government & its Agents (151) | 7 |
| Miscellaneous offences (164) | 0 |
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