A fall of 5 per cent in the number of crimes over the last year was tangible evidence that the Government's anti-crime policies were working and working well, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has said.
He was greatly heartened by the decline indicated in the figures for the 12-month period ending December 31st, 1999, the Minister added.
The figures, which have not been published but have been confirmed by official sources, show a 5 per cent decline in reported crime, from 85,604 in 1998 to 81,511 last year.
But the Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr Jim Higgins, said there had been an increase in armed robberies from 61 in 1998 to 133 last year, a rise of 118 per cent, and described this as "frightening".
He added: "Any increase in armed crime is worrying, but when official Garda figures confirm that the number of armed crimes has increased by 118 per cent . . . it means something must be seriously wrong with the much-vaunted hard-line policies of Mr O'Donoghue."
The Minister, however, said that while this increase was regrettable, it should be remembered that this level was still below the number of armed robberies recorded in 1995 (when it was 171) and 1996 (152).
There has been a fall in crime in all other areas, and it is the third successive year overall that crime rates have fallen, against a backdrop of an increase in population since 1997 of about 200,000 people.
In Dublin, which experienced 51.5 per cent of all crime last year compared with 58 per cent in 1996, the total fell from 45,588 in 1998 to 41,821 last year.
The number of recorded serious crimes - murder and rape - has also declined.
The figure of 37 murders committed in 1999 compares with 38 each year in 1998 and 1997. Thirty-four of the murders in 1997, and the same number in 1998, were detected.
This is thought to be because of the large proportion described as domestic crimes.
The number of recorded rapes fell by 2 per cent between 1998 and 1999, from 322 to 317. This contrasts with a background of consistent increase over the previous three years.
Crimes against the person have all fallen. Larceny against the person has fallen by 14 per cent, from 5,188 in 1998 to 4,484 last year.
Burglary is down 10 per cent, from 25,742 reported in 1998 to 23,143 in 1999.
The rate of larceny from vehicles saw a decline of 7 per cent, from 12,384 in 1998 to 11,520 last year.
Larceny from shops is down 6 per cent, from 7,686 reported in 1998 to 7,368 in 1999.
The number of robberies without weapons is also down by 10 per cent from 1,831 in 1998 to 1,655 in 1999.
