The number of serious crimes such as murders, assaults and drugs offences is rising, figures released by the CSO today show.
The only notable drops in "headline" crime - the main offences as classified by gardaí - last year were for sex offences and burglaries.
Overall, the number of recorded "headline" crimes rose by 1.4 per cent from 102,258 in 2005 to 103,710 in 2006.
There was a sharp increase of 10.1 per cent in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2005. This was partly offset by annual decreases of 1.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent in the third and fourth quarters respectively.
There were 66 murder and manslaughter victims last year - the highest since the foundation of the State. The figures was up 6.5 per cent on the previous year, and drug dealing has increased by more than 13 per cent.
Although sex crimes were up 4.2 per cent in the final three months of last year, overall rape and sexual assaults fell by 3.1 per cent in 2006.
Assault causing harm charges were up almost 7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006 and increased by 177, or 20.7 per cent in 2006 as a whole, compared to 2005.
The offence of possession of drugs for sale or supply, rose by 204 or 32.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006. The increase for the full year 2006 was 349, or 13.1 per cent. Arson rose by 16.7 per for the year.
Thefts accounted for 56 per cent of all headline crime incidents in 2006. The total number of recorded thefts was 58,111 in 2006, which is an increase of 1,468 (2.6 per cent) on the 2005 total.
Burglaries accounted for 23.9 per cent of the total of 103,776 headline crime incidents in 2006. A reduction of 1,058 (14.5 per cent) in the fourth quarter contributed to an annual reduction of 1,633 (6.2 per cent) in the year.
