SDG 11.7.1 Average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age and persons with disabilities is published on each City Council website in the section with information on public parks. Additional information on public use of parks is published by the CSO.
The Household Environmental Behaviours - Visits to Nature Areas Quarter 3 2021 report by the CSO collected data as part of the CSO General Household Survey (GHS), a national survey conducted a few times each year as part of an EU-wide programme.
Some of the main findings from the survey are:
Urban green spaces were the most popular type of green and natural space visited by Irish households in Quarter 3 of 2021, with 32% of households visiting most days and a further 34% visiting most weeks. The figure was higher for urban households with 74% visiting most weeks. Fields, farms and countryside, and woodland or forest areas were each visited by 31% of households most weeks.
Table 6.1 and Figure 6.1 shows how often households visit different types of nature areas.
| X-axis label | Most Days | Most Weeks | Most Months | Less Frequently | Did Not Visit | No Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban Green Space (Such as a Park, Field or Playground) | 32 | 34.5 | 13.5 | 12 | 8 | 0 |
| Woodland or Forest | 7 | 24 | 29 | 26 | 13 | 1 |
| River, Lake or Canal | 8 | 20 | 21 | 33 | 17 | 1 |
| Hill, Mountain or Moorland | 3 | 13 | 24 | 38 | 21 | 1 |
| Beach, Other Coastline or the Sea | 8 | 18.5 | 26.5 | 37 | 9 | 1 |
| Nature or Wildlife Reserve | 1 | 4 | 13 | 46 | 35 | 1 |
| Fields, Farmland or the Countryside | 16 | 15 | 17 | 32 | 19 | 1 |
The two main cities in Ireland are Dublin and Cork.
Dublin city has over 200 public parks of various size, distribution and character within its administrative area, comprising an area of approximately 2,022 hectares. These parks function to create recreational, cultural, environmental and social benefits to Dublin and the key function of the Park Services is to plan, design, maintain and manage this resource. See Table 6.2 and Map 6.1.
Information here is taken from Dublin City Council’s Parks Strategy
Dublin, like many other European cities, did not benefit from a pre-determined masterplan for the provision of its parks and open space. Instead, as the city grew organically, each development era left its own kind of park, which the Councils collectively value and manage.
In order to analyse this resource, a typology of parks and open space is derived as follows:
Within the Dublin City Council administrative area, there are 13 Flagship Parks, 59 Community Grade 1 Parks and 228 Community Grade 2 Parks. See Table 6.2 and Figure 6.2.
| % | ||||||
| Flagship | 11 | |||||
| Community Park Grade 1 | 2.37 | |||||
| Community Park Grade 2 | 3.72 | |||||
| Other Land Use | 82.81 |
These parks are the top city parks and are defined as significant visitor/tourist attractions because of their historical context and location, their natural and built heritage or the high standard of design and horticultural presentation. They welcome thousands of visitors each year.
The key purposes and functions of Flagship Parks are:
The main characteristics of Flagship parks are:
The majority of parks within the administrative area are Community Grade1 (approx. 279 hectares) or Grade 2 (approx. 438 hectares) parks.
The Community Parks are defined into two grades as follows:
Serve local communities, have a good range of amenities and have a high standard of design or horticultural presentation.
Serve local communities and have a range of amenities or are primarily used for active recreation.
The key purpose and functions of a Community Park are:
The Phoenix Park is the largest enclosed city park in Europe with an area of 707 ha. It is also one of Dublin’s oldest parks. The park was created in 1662 when James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, enclosed the lands and stocked it with fallow deer from England. The park is home to a number of institutional uses such as Áras an Uachtaráin, the United States Ambassador’s residence, the Garda and Army headquarters and the Zoological Gardens.
Cork City Council is responsible for the management and maintenance of public parks, public open spaces, play areas and amenity walks throughout the city. Cork City Council maintains 1,500 acres (607 Hectares) of parks, walkways and open spaces.
This includes major parks such as Fitzgerald Park, Bishop Lucey Park, the Lough, the Municipal Golf Course and other recreational facilities.
Cork City Council's Parks locations are shown in Map 6.2.
There are approximately 450 acres (182 Hectares) of public open space in Limerick City alone, some of this land is actively maintained as public parkland and other areas are being developed, for example, as urban forestry and as wildlife sanctuaries.
Limerick City and County Council maintains a number of public parks throughout the city and county. A full list of public parks is on Limerick City website under Parks and Open Spaces. The total population of the Limerick Metropolitan area is 104,952 according to the 2016 Census of Population.
Calculations estimate approximately 17 m2 per person of parks and open spaces in Limerick City.
Approximately 20% of the land area of Galway city is designated as protected habitats, recreational amenity open space and agricultural land. This includes public parks that vary in size from the 120 zoned lands of Terryland Forest Park to little neighbourhood parks located within housing estates. These parks offer a fantastic mix of wildflower meadows, woods, nature trails, rock outcrops, riverwalks, sporting facilities, outdoor gym equipment, children playgrounds and features of historical importance. Details on the website Galway National Park City
Galway City has a population of 79,934 according to the 2016 Census of Population.
Waterford had a population of 48,216 in 2016. Waterford Council website hosts details of Waterford City Parks and Open Spaces.
SDG 11.7.2 Proportion of persons victim of physical or sexual harassment, by sex, age, disability status and place of occurrence, in the previous 12 months is indicated by the CSO, Crime Statistics.
Please note that these statistics are categorised as Statistics Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by the CSO.
For further information please refer to the Under Reservation FAQ page.
When considering crime trends, note there were various COVID-19 restrictions in place for most of 2020 and 2021, which will have possible impacts on crime levels. The CSO COVID-19 Information Hub reports on the changing state of aspects of Ireland's economy and society since the COVID-19 outbreak.
The number of crime incidents recorded on An Garda Síochána’s PULSE database which were classified as fraud, deception and related offences increased by more than 40% in the year to Q2 2021 (up by 3,248 incidents, or 40.6%) compared to the previous year. From an examination of the underlying data, the increase has occurred mostly in Q1 and Q2 of 2021 and primarily relates to fraudulent attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone as well as fraudulent use of credit and debit card information.
The number of crimes recorded in most other crime incident type categories fell in the year to Q2 2021 compared to the previous year, for example in burglary and related offences (down by 5,349, or 37.2%), theft and related offences (down by 13,231, or 22.0%) and robbery, extortion and hijacking offences (down by 444, or 20.7%).
There were also fewer crime incidents classified as attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences (down by 1,781, or 8.7%), while damage to property and to the environment fell by 5.8% and public order and other social code offences dropped by 9.9%. See Table 6.1 and Figure 6.3.
The number of homicide offences recorded in the year to Q2 2021 was lower than in the previous year (down 20, -26.3%), including a decrease of 10 in the combined figure for murder and manslaughter incidents.
Sexual offences increased by 227 (+7.5%) over the same period.
Users should note when considering crime trends the varying COVID-19 restrictions in place for much of 2020 and 2021 and the likely impact of such restrictions on levels of crime.
A total of 3,778 offences were recorded on PULSE for breaches of COVID-19 regulations in Q2 2021. This was a marked decrease on the 10,438 such offences recorded during Q1 2021 following the introduction of a new system of Fixed Payment Notices (i.e. fines) in respect of breaches of COVID-19 regulations in December 2020. The reduction reflects the general easing of restrictions during Q2 relative to Q1. The figure includes unpaid fines and other offences, but does not include fines which were paid. The offences are not included in the statistical tables in this publication due to difficulties aligning them with the existing statistical classification.
See Table 6.3 and Figure 6.3.
| 01 Homicide and related offences | 02 Sexual offences | 03 Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences | 05 Kidnapping and related offences | 06 Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences | 07 Burglary and related offences | 08 Theft and related offences | 09 Fraud, deception and related offences | 10 Controlled drug offences | 11 Weapons and explosives offences | 12 Damage to property and to the environment | 13 Public order and other social code offences | |
| ICCSq offence group | -26.3 | 7.5 | -8.7 | -22.8 | -20.7 | -37.2 | -22 | 40.6 | 1.2 | -4.1 | -5.8 | -9.9 |
The overall number of persons recorded as victims of Group 03 incidents (attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences) during Q2 2021 was 552 higher (+12.9%) than in the corresponding period in 2020.
The numbers of male victims and female victims were both higher (by 14% for males, and 11.7% for females) than a year earlier, and the largest changes were among persons aged under 18, where for males the number of victims was higher by 57.6% and for females the number of victims was higher by 48.8%. See Table 6.4 and Figure 6.4.
| All Males | Males aged under 18 | Males aged 18 -29 | Males aged 30 -44 | Males aged 45 -59 | Males aged 60 or over | All Females | Females aged under 18 | Females aged 18 -29 | Females aged 30 -44 | Females aged 45 -59 | Females aged 60 or over | |
| ICCSq offence group 03 | 14 | 57.6 | 27.9 | 1.4 | -1.5 | -4.8 | 11.7 | 48.8 | 20.2 | 2.4 | 2.1 | -19.1 |
Table 6.5 provides further breakdown by offence type of the total number of recorded crime incidents in the year to Q2 2021 compared with the same period a year earlier. The combined figure for murder and manslaughter incidents fell by ten compared to the previous year, while the number of incidents classified as dangerous driving leading to death also dropped by ten.
The number of crime incidents recorded in the category of attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences decreased by 1,781 incidents (-8.7%). The categories of assault causing harm, poisoning (-562, -12%) and other assault (-1,610, -12.6%) both fell, but there were increases in the categories of threat to kill or cause serious harm (+239, +17.6%) and harassment and related offences (+169, +10.1%).
See Table 6.5 (Only select crimes reported, for full table please see crime release).
Table 6.6 shows the trend in recorded crime incidents by incident category over a five-year period, from the year ending Q2 2017 to the year ending Q2 2021.
The number of fraud, deception and related offences has risen considerably over the five-year period, up from 5,362 incidents in the year to Q2 2017 to 11,253 in the year to Q2 2021, an increase of 109.9%.
The number of recorded controlled drug offences has increased in each year over the five years, with a total of 22,909 incidents in the year to Q2 2021 compared with 16,740 incidents in in the year to Q2 2017, an increase of 36.9%.
There was an increase in the number of sexual offences, rising from 3,014 in Q2 2020 to 3,241 in Q2 2021.
In contrast, attempts/threats to murder, assaults and harassments fell from 20,482 in Q2 2020 to 18,701 in Q2 2021.
Recorded incidents of burglary and related offences have decreased substantially, falling by 51.5% between the year ending Q2 2017 and the year ending Q2 2021. See Table 6.6.
In January 2019 the CSO issued a Press Statement regarding a request by the Minister for Justice to develop and deliver a new national survey on the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland.
The CSO's role is to support research and public policy by producing impartial and robust data reflecting Ireland’s economy, people and society. In December 2017, at the request of the Minister for Justice and Equality, the CSO took part in a scoping group whose role was to consider the availability of data in relation to sexual violence and make recommendations regarding future requirements. It became clear from the work of this group that there is a societal need for reliable data to assess the extent of the issue and to inform public policy with regard to prevention and response. The result was a consensus on the need for a comprehensive national survey on the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland.
The CSO has now been charged with undertaking this work, the first stage of which will involve the CSO scoping a means of collecting this sensitive personal data in a manner which is confidential, ethical and designed to support accurate and reliable survey results. Protecting the privacy and supporting the needs of all involved must be a priority. Conducting this type of highly sensitive survey is a challenging departure for the CSO. In order for the data to be robust, very explicit questions regarding behaviours associated with sexual violence may have to be asked of a number of respondents. As a result, the design and implementation of this survey will require specialist expertise and training. It will involve consultation with key stakeholders and consideration of best practice from international statistical organisations regarding appropriate collection methods as well as identification of the skills, training and structures that may be required to support data gathering in this sensitive area.
Given the complexity and sensitivity of the survey, it is envisaged that the entire process of scoping, planning, executing and reporting on the survey may take in the region of five years and exact timelines will only emerge as scoping progresses. The provision of reliable, robust, objective and internationally comparable information requires that the planning and execution of this survey is undertaken in a professional and comprehensive manner. To do otherwise may compromise the quality of the resulting data. Careful planning is also required to ensure that the data collection model also ensures the privacy and safety of the respondents and those collecting the data.
The CSO is committed to working with stakeholders both nationally and internationally to design a survey which can both satisfy stakeholder needs and protect and respect all those involved with the survey including respondents.
According to the CSO report on Crime and Victimisation 2019, one in ten (9.7%) persons age 18 years or over said that they had been a victim of a violent or non-violent theft or attempted theft, a physical assault or a fraud in the 12 months prior to interview.
This represents an increase on levels reported in previous surveys. For example, in 2015, 5.3% of persons aged 18 and over reported having been a victim of personal crime in the 12 months prior to interview. Surveys prior to 2015 did not include fraud in this category.
Some care should be taken when interpreting changes in the survey data over time. The format of the survey, and the format of questions within the survey will have changed over time. Care should also be taken when comparing the results with crime levels recorded in administrative sources, since the survey variables may not correspond with administrative variables and the levels of reporting by victims will have changed over time. See Table 6.7.
The rate of victimisation for personal crime was slightly higher among males (10%) than females (9%), and considerably higher among persons aged 18-29 years (14%) than persons in older age groups (5% of persons aged 60 or above). People from very affluent areas (14%) reported being victims of personal crime more than people in more disadvantaged areas.
Looking at the different types of personal crime individually, victimisation rates for violent theft and non-violent theft or attempted theft were highest in the Dublin region (at 3% and 6% of persons aged 18 years or over respectively) and among people in the 18-29 years age group (again 3% and 6% respectively).
Persons in the 18-29 years age group also reported being the victims of assault (4%) considerably more than other age cohorts.
5% of people aged 30-44 years and 5% of people aged 45-59 years reported being victims of fraud which was higher than the rate of victimisation among people in other age cohorts. See Table 6.8.
The National Crime Council commissioned the National Study on Domestic Abuse (NSDA) survey in 2003 to provide a nationally representative picture of the nature, prevalence and impact of domestic abuse of women and men in Ireland.
This research is the first national study ever in Ireland to include both women’s and men’s experiences of domestic abuse. The survey was conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). In total 3,077 interviews were completed with a nationally representative, random sample of women and men aged 18 and over.
Details of the survey methodology are provided in Watson, D. and Parsons, S. (2005), Domestic Abuse of Women and Men in Ireland: Report on the National Study of Domestic Abuse, From the National Crime Council in association with the Economic and Social Research Institute.
In 2003, 15% of women had experienced severe abuse, either physical, sexual or emotional, compared with 6% of men.
Severe physical abuse had been experienced by 9% of women while 8% of women had experience of sexual abuse and 8% had been emotionally abused.
Any severe or minor incidents of abuse had been experienced by 29% of women and 26% of men. See Table 6.9.
In 2003, 10.5% of people aged 18 years and over had experienced severe abuse, either physical, sexual or emotional. Severe physical abuse had been experienced by 8.9% of women while 8.0% of women had experience of sexual abuse and 7.9% had been emotionally abused.
The present partner of 3.0% of women was responsible for severe abuse of any kind, compared with 1.7% of men.
In the last five years preceding the survey, 7.0% of women said they had received severe physical, sexual or emotional abuse, compared with 4.2% men. See Table 6.10.
In 2003, 14.5% of women had received severe abuse, compared with 6.2% of men. The proportions of abuse varied widely by marital status.
Just under one in ten (9.7%) married women were abused compared with one in twenty five (4%) married men.
Nearly six in ten (58.3%) separated or divorced women had received severe abuse compared with three in ten (29.2%) men.
11.6% of widowed women were abused, whilst only 2.3% of men were abused.
The proportion of never married persons who had severe abuse was 16.8% for women and 7.7% for men. See Table 6.11.
SDG 11.a.1 Number of countries that have national urban policies or regional development plans that (a) respond to population dynamics; (b) ensure balanced territorial development; and (c) increase local fiscal space, is published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. National Development plans are published in Project Ireland 2040.
Project Ireland 2040 is the government’s long-term overarching strategy to make Ireland a better country for all of its people. The plan changes how investment is made in public infrastructure in Ireland, moving away from the approach of the past, which saw public investment spread too thinly and investment decisions that didn’t align with a well-thought-out and defined strategy. Alongside the development of physical infrastructure, Project Ireland 2040 supports business and communities across all of Ireland in realising their potential. The National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework combine to form Project Ireland 2040.
In 2018, the Government published the National Planning Framework (NPF) as part of Project Ireland 2040. It is the overarching policy and planning framework to guide development and investment in our cities, towns and rural areas. The NPF sets out a vision a to shape national, regional and local spatial development in economic, environmental and social terms to 2040, by which time it is projected that there will be roughly an extra one million people living in Ireland.
The government has set about achieving the vision in the NPF by:
These NPF also sets out a shared set of goals that are expressed as National Strategic Outcomes (NSOs):
Section 1.5 of the framework states that 'Sustainability is at the heart of long term planning and the NPF seeks to ensure that the decisions we take today, meet our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs'. Since 2015, Ireland has been a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which frame national agendas and policies to 2030. There is significant alignment between the UN SDGs and the National Planning Framework’s National Strategic Outcomes (NSOs) in areas such as climate action, clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, economic growth, reduced inequalities and innovation and infrastructure, as well as education and health.
The policies in the NPF must be taken into account when preparing Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSESs) and local city and county development plans. The RSES’s determine at a regional scale how best to implement the NPF in setting out Regional Strategic Outcomes (RSOs), which are also aligned to the NPF National Strategic Outcomes (NSOs) as well as the UN SDGs. This policy alignment across different tiers of the spatial planning hierarchy in Ireland helps to co-ordinate and support consistent monitoring of national and regional urban development policies in line with SDGs.
The companion to the NPF is the National Development Plan, a ten year strategy for public capital investment of almost €116 billion. Their joint publication as Project Ireland 2040 aligns investment strategy with strategic planning for the first time in Ireland, create a unified and coherent plan for the country.
As part of Project Ireland 2040 the National Development Plan 2021-2030 sets out the Government’s over-arching investment strategy and budget for the period 2021-2030. It is an ambitious plan that balances the significant demand for public investment across all sectors and regions of Ireland with a major focus on improving the delivery of infrastructure projects to ensure speed of delivery and value for money.
In order to meet the 2030 objectives, a ‘whole-of government’ approach has been taken in Ireland with each Minister being given specific responsibility for implementing individual SDG targets related to their Ministerial functions. Department of Environment Climate and Communication (DECC) has overall responsibility for promoting the SDGs and overseeing their coherent implementation across Government.
Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plans developed by DECC set out arrangements for interdepartmental coordination, stakeholder engagement and periodic progress reporting on all 169 targets. The second National Implementation Plan is currently being developed and will focus on improving policy coherency across the goals and increasing engagement with the SDGs across sectors and society.
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