There has been a marked increase in the number of violent attacks on people according to the Annual Garda Report for the year 2000.
The Report, which was issued this evening, shows that for the year 2000 violent assaults were up by over 130% on the previous year. A total of 1,703 assaults causing bodily harm were recorded in 2000 as against 737 in the previous year.
The number of murders remained relatively unchanged increasing by 1 to 39 while the number of manslaughters increased from 9 to 17.
Incidents of rape where the victims were female have declined from 278 in 1999 to 269 in 2000. There were 21 male rape victims in 2000; this category was not shown separately in previous reports.
However, the figures show that armed robberies, burglaries, and thefts from cars were down. The report notes that "serious crime" is at its lowest level in 20 years, despite the increase in murders, manslaughter, assaults and domestic violence.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr John O'Donoghue TD, said the report is "evidence that commitments made to the Irish people in relation to fighting crime are being delivered on."
Fine Gael TD Mr Alan Shatter claimed that the problem is substantially greater than recorded in garda statistics as a consequence of street violence simply not being reported.
He accused the Minister of Justice of "abysmally failing to ensure that our streets are safe." He said the "appalling statistics totally undermines the credibility of the government’s commitment to so-called zero tolerance."