SURVEY OF CRIME FIGURES: The Government has rejected bitter charges from the Labour Party that the Department of Justice deliberately blocked the publication of the 2001 crime figures until the general election was over.
The statistics were "a truly shocking indictment" of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, and particularly the record of the former Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, according to Labour's spokesman on justice, Mr Pat Rabbitte.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, rejected the concealment charge. "The figures were published two days after they were received by me," he declared.
During an RTÉ Morning Ireland interview on January 15th, his predecessor, Mr O'Donoghue, said he had preliminary figures which showed that the number of assaults had risen, while indictable offences were down.
Pressed repeatedly then by Labour's deputy leader, Mr Brendan Howlin, Mr O'Donoghue said he could not give more details "because I don't have the figures in front of me".
Last night, Mr Rabbitte said the Government had promised zero tolerance but instead "presided over an unprecedented descent into violence and thuggery".
Preliminary figures were available since January, he said. "They were deliberately withheld until after the general election and now we can see why." Describing the 93 per cent increase in violent assaults as "a matter of particular concern", Mr Rabbitte said it came on top of the 120 per cent rise which took place during the previous year.
"The fact is that people, and especially young people, are now more at risk of violent assault that at any other time in the history of the State. Shocking as they are, these figures will come as no real surprise to communities that are under siege from crime and vandalism."
The figures raised further questions about the Garda's decision to allocate 500 officers over the past two weeks "into the unfocused and unproductive pursuit of undocumented immigrants", he said.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Ms Olivia Mitchell said "the terrifying increase in crime" offered further "shocking evidence" that the Government had presided over the worst street violence in the country's history.
"There is an increasing sense of anger and frustration among the general public who are being terrorised on a nightly basis. Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats now stand indicted of a gross dereliction of their duty to ensure that the citizens of this country can get on with their lives safely," she said.
Following the publication of the statistics, Sinn Féin TD Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh called on the Government to end the recent Garda action against immigrants.
The acting director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Mr Liam Herrick, said the results were "a clear indictment" of the way in which statistics were gathered in the past.
He complimented Mr McDowell for the early publication of the full findings. "Up to now," he said, "we have not been able to get a true picture of the reality of crime in Ireland."
