Dramatic increase in armed robberies in first half of year

Regional Garda commanders will be asked to target gangs who specialise in armed robberies, in the wake of a dramatic increase in such crimes during the first half of this year, the Minister for Justice has confirmed.

Mr O'Donoghue admitted concern yesterday at statistics which show a doubling in the number of armed raids from January to June - 61 compared with 29 in the same period last year. Senior gardai would be briefed to focus on known gangs who concentrated on armed robberies, he said, and he predicted a "substantial improvement" in the future.

But speaking on RTE's News At One, Mr O'Donoghue added that the latest figures also showed gardai had been "spectacularly successful" in reducing general crime levels overall, with provisional figures suggesting an 8 per cent drop in recorded crimes so far this year.

This was on top of a 16 per cent fall over the past two years, to be confirmed when the 1998 official crime report is published later this week.

"That, if it continues, will mean that since the Government went into office, crime will have dropped by almost 25 per cent", the Minister said. However, Fine Gael's justice spokesman claimed the findings highlighted the Government's failure to tackle serious crime. Mr Jim Higgins said: "The figures speak for themselves. Armed raids up by 110 per cent, murder up by 18 per cent, rape up 2 per cent, false imprisonment up 94 per cent, and robbery and aggravated burglary up 17 per cent".

Many crimes went unreported, he added. For example, the Rape Crisis Centre reported a huge disparity between official crime figures and the experience of victims. He called for a more systematic approach to crime, including the immediate establishment of a national DNA database.

Published in yesterday's Irish Independent, the figures for January to June show the increases in robbery and aggravated burglary were biggest in the Dublin east, west, north and north central Garda divisions, as well as in Cork city, Waterford-Kilkenny, Longford-Westmeath and Tipperary.

Overall, reported crimes Statewide dropped to 39,715 in the first six months, compared with 42,943 for the same period last year.

The number of murders increased from 17 to 20, rapes were up slightly from 139 to 142, and aggravated burglary not involving guns rose from 334 to 391. Aggravated burglaries with firearms were exactly the same, at 92 in both six month periods. On the other hand, burglaries fell 15 per cent to 11,371, while larcenies from individuals, cars and retail businesses are all down too.

Recorded crimes were down in all the Dublin divisions, as well as Cork city and north county, Carlow-Kildare, Cavan-Monaghan, Clare, Donegal, Galway west, Limerick, Louth-Meath and Sligo-Leitrim. Figures were up in Cork West, Kerry, Laois-Offaly, Longford-Westmeath, Mayo, Roscommon-Galway, Tipperary, Waterford-Kilkenny and Wexford.

Wexford had the biggest increase, with 27 per cent. One of the most striking contrasts is between Cork west, which had one of the biggest increases - 18 per cent; and Cork north, which had the second-biggest fall in crimes, at 25 per cent.

The average detection rate State-wide was 43 per cent during the period, with Tipperary topping the league table at 62 per cent.

Last night the Labour Party spokesman on justice, Mr Brendan Howlin, described Mr O'Donoghue's attitude to crime as complacent.