The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has said there is "no instant solution" to the soaring level of violent, sexual and other serious crimes revealed in Garda crime statistics for 2002 yesterday, writes Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent
The figures were described by the Opposition as a "national emergency" and an "unprecedented descent into violence and thuggery".
The figures show that reported serious crime rose by 22 per cent overall, with a dramatic 50 per cent increase in assault and 62 per cent in sexual offences.
It was the second substantial annual increase in a row and reported serious crime has now risen by more than 40 per cent since 2000.
In 2002, sexual assaults rose by more than 50 per cent with rape increasing by about 25 per cent. Drugs offences were up 23 per cent, larcenies 27 per cent and fraud 22 per cent. A miscellaneous category, which includes firearms offences, child neglect and cruelty, child pornography and a variety of other crimes, rose by 62 per cent.
The number of murders committed was 51, down one on 2001. The crime detection rate fell by 3 per cent. Mr McDowell said the figures caused him "great concern" and that much of the increase was driven by drug and alcohol abuse.
He said 300 extra gardaí would shortly be recruited and the promise to recruit an extra 2,000 in the Government's lifetime remained. "But we are dealing with behavioural and societal problems" such as binge-drinking and other substance abuse and not just numbers of gardaí.
"Throwing money at the problem" was not the answer, he said, pointing out that increased Garda numbers would not affect the level of sexual crime. "Getting value for money out of the police force we have" was his priority.
Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, said yesterday that the Government was presiding over "an unprecedented descent into violence and thuggery", while Fine Gael's Mr John Deasy said crime was becoming "a national emergency".
Opposition parties widely condemned the Government for reneging on last year's election promise to recruit 2,000 more gardaí. However, Mr Deasy pledged "political co-operation" with the Minister to make crime a priority.
However, Sinn Féin's spokesman, Mr Aengus O'Snodaigh, pointed out that when the increase in population was taken into account, the crime rate had only increased by a fraction of 1 per cent since 1996.
The figures therefore represented "scaremongering at its worst . . . the figures are being cynically used to pursue a specific ideological agenda".
The Green Party called for the immediate recruitment of extra gardaí.
Announcing the figures in the Seanad, Mr McDowell also listed a number of measures that the Government had set in train, including legislation to give gardaí more powers, to tackle excessive and under-age drinking, and some increase in Garda numbers.
He also announced his intention to instruct the Parole Board that he intended no prisoner serving life for murder to be in jail for less than 10 years, except in the "most extraordinary" circumstances. He promised new legislation on Garda accountability and structures this year and reform of court procedures to shorten the period between arrest and trial.