Parliamentary Question: Crime Levels

30th November 2004

423. Mr. Coveney asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps he can take to rectify the situation of crime going unreported, due to the Garda not having the manpower to follow up on minor crimes. [31087/04]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell):  While there are general claims of underreporting of crime, there is no evidence that the level of underreporting now is any greater than in the past or that the proportion of unreported crime in Ireland is any greater than in other jurisdictions. The problems of unreported and unrecorded crime are well documented in the international criminological literature and are in no way unique to this country. Furthermore, the introduction of PULSE has improved the accuracy and comprehensiveness of Garda statistics such as, for example, the system demands that incidents now have to be recorded before particular actions can be taken.

Steps are, however, being taken to obtain a more accurate estimate of the level of victimisation in Ireland. Following a recommendation of the National Crime Council, the Government has agreed that crime victimisation surveys should take place. Following the submission to me in July of its report by the expert group on crime statistics, I decided that the Central Statistics Office should take over the carrying out of these surveys. As a result of these surveys, we will have a greater understanding as to why some victims chose not to report cases to the Garda and what we can do with regard to reduce the level of under-reporting.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that there are sufficient measures in place to facilitate the reporting of all offences. These measures include 999 emergency calls, phone calls and visits to Garda stations and the availability of gardaí on mobile and beat patrols.

With regard to Garda resources generally, I am pleased that the Government has approved my proposal to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 members on a phased basis, thereby honouring the commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government in this regard. This is a key commitment in the programme for Government and its implementation will significantly strengthen the operational capacity of the force. The Commissioner will now be drawing up plans on how best to distribute and manage these resources.

The additional resources will be targeted at the areas of greatest need, as envisaged in the programme for Government. The programme identifies, in particular, areas with significant drugs problems and a large number of public order offences but it will be possible to address other priorities as well, such as the need to significantly increase the number of gardaí allocated to traffic law enforcement duties. I have already promised that the additional gardaí will not be put on administrative duties but will be put directly into frontline, operational, high-visibility policing.

There will be an intake of almost 1,100 new recruits per year in each of the next three years. The advertisement campaign for this first tranche of 1,100 recruits was launched on Thursday, 25 November 2004.