DRUGS ARRESTS have reached record levels with gardaí having made a drugs arrest on average every 20 minutes, 24 hours a day, in the 12 months to the end of June, according to crime figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The data shows the recession has so far not led to any sustained increase in crime, as had been feared. Overall crime has fallen by 3 per cent in the 12-month period ending June 30th.
While burglary offences, which are traditionally linked to recessionary times, have increased by 7 per cent in the last three months, the annual trend shows a drop of just over 1 per cent, to 24,831 cases.
Controlled-drugs offences have increased by 15 per cent in the year to the end of June, with 23,749 offences detected. Public order crimes are down 6 per cent, discharging of firearms is down 11 per cent and sex offences are also down, by 5 per cent.
Murders reduced by 8 per cent, to 58 cases, in the 12 months ending June 30th.
However, the murder rate in the past three months was considerably higher than in the same period last year, reaching 15 cases compared with seven in the second quarter of 2008.
Most of that increase is attributable to gangland shootings which have reached a record 17 to date in 2009.
However, the murder total for the second quarter is still lower than most quarters in recent years, when the murder rate has regularly reached 20 cases.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern welcomed the figures saying 11 of the CSO's 14 crime categories show a fall in crime. However, he was concerned at the murder rate, particularly the second quarter increase.
"Many of these were gangland related, and it was partly to combat this trend that I piloted significant legislation through the Oireachtas in the past number of months, including the Criminal Justice Act and the Criminal Justice Act," he said.
Mr Ahern expressed concern at the rise of 7 per cent in burglaries in the second quarter. He said "great distress" was caused to victims of such crime. Gardaí were "paying particular attention to counteracting this trend".
Other crime trends in the 12 months ended June 30th include: rapes up 12 per cent to 374 cases; murder attempts up 29 per cent to nine cases; drink driving down 17 per cent to 16,228 cases; robbery of cash in transit up 44 per cent to 26 cases; burglary down 1 per cent to 24,831 cases; thefts down 1 per cent to 76,470 cases; and public order offences down 6 per cent to 58,945 cases.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said the increase in murder in the second quarter of the year was the "bloody legacy of Fianna Fáil's failure" to tackle gangland crime. "Under Fianna Fáil Ireland has witnessed the rise of a gangland culture which now rivals Italy's Cosa Nostra," he said.
Labour TD Joanna Tuffy said the 15 per cent increase in drug cases in the year to the end of June revealed the extent of the drug problem in local communities. "There is a clear need for visible Garda presence and strong policing in areas that are ravaged by drug-based crime and funding to local drug task forces must be maintained," she said.