The year 1958 is regarded by many historians as the lowest point in Ireland's economic history since the foundation of the State.
The population of the Republic was 2.9 million and declining, poverty was widespread, jobs and employment opportunities were scarce, emigration was high and families left the State in droves so that it became possible to buy a three-bed semi on the north side of Dublin for as little as £3,000.
It was said that some homes were actually abandoned as their occupants took the boat to England. And yet, despite the appalling economic conditions of that time, crime was not a feature of Irish life. A Reader's Digest atlas for those years shows Ireland and Spain with the lowest serious crime rates in the world.
In the 12 months up to the end of September, the Garda report for 1958 indicates that four murders were committed in the State, three attempts at murder, 10 cases of rape, 79 sexual (or indecent) assaults on females, three cases of incest, 55 cases of arson, 267 assaults (including wounding), 3,315 cases of burglary and/or breaking and entering, and 61 robberies (two armed).
If we move on 40 years to 1998, what do we find? The population had increased to 3.7 million and was still rising. There was a booming economy, low unemployment, reverse emigration, higher living standards, smaller families, free access to third-level education, lots of opportunities, greater mobility, reduced tax rates, more disposable income, extensive foreign travel possibilities, widespread sexual licence and greater demands for individual freedom.
Yet in 1998, despite the positive things that had happened in Irish society, there were 38 murders, five murder attempts, 292 rapes, 598 sexual assaults on females or males, 18 reports of incest, 281 cases of arson, 691 assaults (including wounding), 25,730 burglaries and 2,500 robberies (61 armed).
While present-day commentators unite in presenting life in pre1960s Ireland as some form of Dark Age - as a time of apathy, ignorance and absence of intellectual stimulation - there were some bright features that are rarely mentioned.
There was the superb quality and range of the professional theatre in Dublin during the 1950s (never since surpassed), active participation in sport, and low levels of serious crime. This last was so significant that it begs the question why there has been an eightfold increase in crime against persons and property during those 40 years. As far as this writer is aware, no study of this phenomenon has ever been undertaken and is long overdue.
Many questions arise when two such different eras are compared. How is it that the incidence of serious crime was so low in the impoverished society of 1958, when large families, pitiful levels of social welfare, high tax rates and little disposable income were the norm and when the struggle to acquire the basic necessities of life and the desire for an occasional luxury must have been a constant struggle - and a regular source of temptation?
The maxim that poverty and want together breed - and perhaps justify - criminal acts is not borne out by the official statistics from the 1950s. Why had the figures for all types of crime, serious and otherwise, increased so dramatically 40 years later when the State's living conditions were infinitely better?
What is it about a newly affluent society that encourages and sustains high levels of criminal behaviour towards persons and their property?
Could the answer be that an inherent sense of morality (knowing clearly the difference between right and wrong and then behaving accordingly) was deeply rooted in the Irish psyche through generations of regular religious practice, catechetical formation and socially acceptable behaviour (monitored at local level), and that this was the major deterrent to those who might otherwise have contemplated committing criminal acts? What other explanation can there be?
The annual reports of the Garda Siochana, from which official statistics have been drawn, make no attempt to analyse trends, but merely present in tabular form the numbers of indictable offences which were made known to gardai and recorded each year.
There is surely sufficient material in these annual reports for a more comprehensive sociological study to be undertaken, so that a coherent analysis might be made of the major paradigm shifts that have taken place in our society within two generations, both in the attitudes of Irish people to wrongdoing, in their resulting behaviour - and the reasons why this should have happened.
The results of such a study might prove beneficial to Irish generations of the future. We can learn from the past.
Louis Power writes on family, social and religious affairs
