There was a dramatic rise in the number of serious crimes committed in Ireland last year, according to the annual report of the Garda Commissioner.
Publishing the report yesterday, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said, however, that the rising crime rate for 2002 had now been reversed. He claimed that figures for the first nine months of this year showed a reversal of this trend.
While it had been previously revealed that the headline crime rate rose by 22 per cent in 2002, the statistics published yesterday also revealed that there had been very large rises in the number of violent crimes reported to gardaí.
According to the report, armed robberies rose by two-thirds last year, while the number or rape cases notified to gardaí increased by a quarter.
Physical assault cases in which people were injured rose by over 60 per cent, while sexual assault figures also rose by 55 per cent.
While the number of people murdered remained static in 2002 at 52, there was a significant rise in the number of "homicide cases" investigated by gardaí, from 74 in 2001 to 133. The homicide group of crimes includes infanticide, manslaughter and murder threats.
The rise is accounted for in a major increase in murder threats reported to gardaí, up from under 20 in 2001 to over 74. The report also noted a reduction in the overall detection rate from 41 per cent to 39 per cent of all headline offences.
The report is the first time that a detailed breakdown of offences in 2002 has been published.
Last April, Mr McDowell published the preliminary figures for headline offences, which showed a 22 per cent rise on 2001 figures.
However, yesterday he said that provisional figures which he published last October showed that reported crime levels had dropped by 3 per cent for the period between January and September of this year.
He claimed the provisional 2003 figures were evidence that this "shows that the Government's firm, comprehensive and coherent strategy for dealing with crime is effective".
In his report the Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, said that alcohol-related public order problems continued to be "a major concern", but that specific Garda initiatives have successfully targeted this. He also identified organised crime as "a particular challenge" for the force.
Yesterday the Commissioner also published the 2002 evaluation of the Garda's policing plan, in which he defended the detection levels and crime rates in Ireland last year. While there had been a rise in crime, Mr Conroy said crime levels were one-quarter of those in countries with similar population sizes, such as Denmark and New Zealand.
He also said the detection rate of 39 per cent was "very high in comparison with other police services".
The Minister pointed out that there were complicating factors involved in drawing up the statistics, especially the introduction of the Pulse system which computerised Garda records for the first time.