There was a significant increase in the number of homicide, weapons and drug offences recorded in Ireland in the period from 2003-2007, according to new Garda crime statistics released today.
The number of drug offences more than doubled during the five year period, during which the number of homicides rose by two thirds and weapons offences increased by 87 per cent.
Instances of fraud rose by 41 per cent, public order offences increased by 34 per cent, there was a 45 per cent increase in the number of negligent acts recorded and a 57 per cent rise in road and traffic offences.
The only areas in which a reduction was recorded were sexual offences, down 32 per cent, burglary, down 2 per cent, while the number of recorded robbery, extortion and hijacking offences fell by a quarter in the four-year period.
The number of recorded homicide offences increased each year between 2003 and 2006 from 80 to 137, but the figure then fell to 133 during 2007. Offences recorded as homicides include murder, manslaughter, infanticide and dangerous driving causing death.
In 2007, there were 84 victims of murder and manslaughter offences in Ireland. Of these, 68 were male and 16 were female, and 67 were Irish. Guns were involved in 19 of the offences, while knives were involved in 34.
The Dublin south-central Garda division had the highest per capita rate of murder/manslaughter in 2007. There were 1,283 weapons and explosives offences recorded in 2003, which rose consistently each year to 2,578 in 2007. Gardaí recorded 211 instances of firearms being discharged in 2003, which rose to 326 in 2007.
The number of drug offences increased from 9,257 in 2003 to 18,583 in 2007. The number of recorded offences of possession of drugs for personal use more than doubled over the same period from 6,453 to 14,033.
