Significant rise in burglary and fraud

Burglaries and fraud offences increased significantly in the year to September, according to the latest official figures.

The Central Statistics Office also recorded an increase in the number of murders, although the overall number of homicides fell.

The incidence of all other recorded crimes also fell, including for drugs, weapons, drink-driving and public order offences.

The annualised figures show recorded burglary increased by 7.9 per cent. In the year to the end of September there were 28,706 burglaries, a rise of 2,099.

Fraud, deception and related offences rose by 6.2 per cent. There were 5,590 such recorded incidents, an increase from 5,265.

Recorded public order offences were down 12 per cent from 50,986 to 44,874, a drop of 6,112.

Drink-driving offences were significantly down, from 9,239 cases to 8,457, an 8.5 per cent reduction.

The number of offences of dangerous driving leading to death was down from 26 to nine in the same 12-month period.

However, the CSO says the significant drop could be because not all investigations of road collisions for this period have concluded.

Fifty-five murder and manslaughter offences were recorded in the year, an increase of three on the year to September 2011. The number of attempted murders rose from seven to nine.

While the recorded level of sexual offences fell overall by 0.7 per cent, the reported incidence of rape of a male or female increased by eight from 464 to 472.

All drug-related offences showed a reduction, with an overall drop of 7.1 per cent.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter described the figures as “generally very positive”.

The position for some property offences, including burglary, “remains a concern”, he said, but highlighted Operation Fiacla, established last February to combat the rise in burglaries.

It resulted in 3,217 arrests and 1,737 charges to the end of November, the Minister said, and this was reflected in the quarterly figures.