The number of sexual assaults and aggravated burglaries involving a weapon increased significantly in the third quarter of this year.
The increases were recorded despite a small decline during the period in "headline crime" - serious indictable offences - according to new Department of Justice figures.
Assaults causing harm fell for the third quarter in succession, down by 31 per cent, and by 26 per cent for the nine months to September. There was on average almost one murder per week, 13 in total, in the State in July, August and September. That figure represents a drop of one on the same period last year.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said the increase in the number of sexual assaults - 42 per cent in the third quarter compared to this time last year - was "worrying".
However, he added that the drop in violent assaults "corresponds with my intuitive feeling that public order issues have improved very significantly over the last number of months.
"There was a time about two years ago when the general feeling and sentiment was crime was out of control, that it was rising inexorably, that there was nothing could be done about it. But these latest figures show that that's not the case."
The Minister appealed to people to be "much more careful in relation to their wallets and their handbags and the like" because theft from the person was driven by the need by drug addicts to feed their habits.
While gardaí had a responsibility to get the maximum number of officers possible involved in "front-line" policing activities, the public had a duty to assist the force. "We have to take care of our homes, take care of our properties, report suspicious activities to An Garda Síochána, help them in their fight against crime. It is a cross-community effort. It isn't something we can delegate to the police and have nothing to do with ourselves."
Headline crime between January and September fell by 3 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Provisional quarterly figures also show that the number of detected headline offences in the third quarter of this year fell by 1 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2002. Compared with the same quarter in 2002, thefts from the person increased by 11 per cent, with thefts from cars increasing by 5 per cent. Burglary is up by 8 per cent, while aggravated burglary jumped 33 per cent and burglary from the person rose by 15 per cent. Sexual assault increased by 42 per cent.
Possession of firearms dropped by 15 per cent between January and September, while the offence of discharging firearms fell by 17 per cent. Both of these crimes fell despite the fact that 20 of the State's 44 homicides this year have involved firearms, compared with 10 last year.
Labour's spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello TD, said the latest 1 per cent decrease in headline crime must be viewed against the background of sharp increases of 22 per cent and 18 per cent in headline offences in 2001 and 2002. "The Minister for Justice can take no comfort from these figures. He had a window of opportunity for the last 18 months to provide the extra gardaí on the streets but he totally reneged on the Government's commitments."