Crime figures show 6% drop

Reported crime fell in the first three months of this year, with a decrease of just over 6 per cent compared with the same period in 2003, according to Garda figures released by the Department of Justice yesterday.

The year-on-year decrease for the 12 months to March 31st was 2 per cent compared with the previous corresponding period.

While almost all categories of serious offences showed a decrease between January and March, burglary was up by just over 6 per cent and the discharging of firearms increased by 53 per cent.

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said the decreases "should be a considerable cause of satisfaction for the Garda Commissioner and members of the force.

"Taken together, these figures provide evidence that the Government's targeted strategies dealing with crime are continuing to prove effective," he said. While the number of rapes of females jumped by almost 30 per cent, to 181 cases, Mr McDowell said 60 of these dated back to the 1960s.

Two woman have recently come forward and given statements to gardaí that they had been raped 60 times by the same perpetrator at an institution during the 1960s.

However, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has disputed the figures saying they do not reflect reality. Ms Rosemary Daly, the centre's chief executive, said her organisation had calls relating to 283 rapes in January and February alone. She said many victims had no confidence in the justice system and chose not to report attacks to the Garda.

"The biggest barrier is that the victim does not have legal representation in court, unlike the State and the accused. Because of this, many victims don't feel part of the process; they can't relate to it," she said.

Labour's spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello, said close to 300 serious crimes were being committed every day, underlining the need for more gardaí.

"Prior to the last general election Fianna Fáil and the PDs promised to recruit an additional 2,000 gardaí. As soon as the election was over, the commitment was discarded. Now that new elections are approaching the promise has been dusted down and reissued. The public would be well advised to treat this cynical approach with the contempt it deserves."

Fine Gael's spokesman on justice, Mr Jim O'Keeffe, said: "Since 1998, the first full year the Fianna Fáil/PD Coalition were in office, official annual crime figures have increased from 85,000 in that year to nearly 106,000 in 2002. In the last 15 months we have seen a very small reduction in the unofficial figures from those record highs of 2002. While welcome, we still have more crime today than at nearly any other time in our State's history."