THE statistics available to the Minister for Justice do not support the suggestion that the State is caught in an unprecedented crime wave, she told the Seanad last night.
Ms Owen was speaking on a Fine Gael amendment to a wide ranging Fianna Fail motion deploring the "abject failure" of the Government and the Minister to respond with adequate measures to combat the escalating crime levels.
The amendment was passed by 27 votes to 25.
The Minister said: "I know that statistical data are no consolation to the victims of the crimes that have occurred and I am not suggesting that they ought to be, but if we are to tackle the problem, we had better do so with a clear understanding of the facts."
In 1995 there was a 1 per cent increase in crime over 1994. However, there was an extremely worrying upward trend in crimes against the person.
"It is clear, for example, that there has been a very large increase in the level of reported sexual crimes, including rape. Reports of rape doubled over the period 1990 to 1994. In the latter year, 184 rapes were reported to the gardai. And this upward trend is continuing. Provisional figures for 1995 indicate that the number of reported rapes increased by 28 per cent," the Minister said.
She continued: "I do not believe that these statistics can be put down simply to a greater willingness on the part of the rape victims generally to report such offences. While this may be a factor, it seems reasonable to assume that the real, underlying trend is towards a higher incidence of abuse."
Ms Owen said that horrific as recent crimes have been, they were, sadly, not unprecedented. In 1984 there were 432 attacks on people over 65 living in a remote area. Garda action, supported by the rural community, succeeded in reducing that number to 118 in 1988 and to 66 in 1991 and 1992.
It was dishonest in the extreme to pretend that the problems were: of recent origin. It was also dishonest to pretend that we had moved within the past week or the past year or three or four years, from a way of life that was characterised by absolute tranquillity, perfect order and model citizenship to one that was characterised by chaos, anarchy and the total breakdown of law and order.
Mr Michael O'Kennedy (FF) speaking on his group's motion, said the Minister for Justice herself was a victim of the outrageous surge of crime and inhumanity.
"She is a victim because of the composition of the Government and particularly because the minority leftist elements that dominate the Government prevent her from taking the necessary steps which, I believe, she would want to implement."
Prof Joe Lee (Ind) applauded the Minister for recognising the fundamental changes that had taken place in Irish society. He welcomed her openness in disclosing the increasing crimes against women but he would have preferred if she was as open about the numbers of murders carried out.
Ireland had not historically been a violent society but it could well become so since he did not see much evidence of the"reawakening and co ordination of caring instincts" which the Minister declared were important. There was no doubt there had been a change - a coarsening - of the tone of Irish society.
Mr Feargal Quinn (Ind) said he would support the Minister because of the important moves she was taking in supporting the gardai.
Mr Brendan Daly, former, Fianna Fail Minister for Defence, said that people in the west of Ireland "were arming themselves at: an alarming rate" because of their fears over the current range of violent crimes.
The House will sit at 10.30 a.m. today.