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Irish crime data reveals a complex picture: gun and drug offences are increasing, particularly drug dealing and non-fatal firearms incidents, while homicides and sexual crimes have decreased significantly over the past three years. The rise in detections is partly attributed to increased Garda personnel and proactive policing.
Gun crime and drug crime are rising again, after years of decline, according to crime trends for the past 12 months. However, homicides have fallen significantly, as have recorded sexual offences, over a longer period of three years.
Firearms and Drug Crime Rise
There were 41 cases of firearms illegally discharged across the Republic in the second quarter of this year, the highest level in any quarter since 2015, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The numbers of cases of drug dealing detected in the first and second quarters of this year were the highest recorded since the CSO began compiling and publishing crime data in 2003. Drug dealing is being detected at approximately double the rate it was 10 years ago.
Theft, fraud, public disorder and road traffic offending were all up in the 12-month period to the end of June, according to the latest crime data published by the CSO, based on figures supplied by the Garda . A longer-term mapping of Irish crime trends, also published on Thursday, shows very significant reductions over the three-year period from mid-2023 to the present day.
Contrary to misinformation, often spread on social media by far-right agitators, homicides and recorded sexual crimes have decreased significantly since 2023, though the figure for the latter has fluctuated within that period. Homicides - which include murders, manslaughters and any other unlawful killings - have fallen by just over a third since mid-2023. The number of sexual crimes - including rapes, sexual assaults and other offences - recorded by the Garda is down by 15 per cent compared with 2023.
However, the main focus of the CSO crime data published on Thursday is the second quarter of this year and the 12-month period to the end of that quarter.
Detailed Crime Statistics Overview
Key findings for the 12-month period to the end of June included: Homicide and related offences at 67 cases, down 9 per cent Sexual offences down 19 per cent to 3,189 attacks recorded Physical assaults (common assault, not assault causing harm) up almost 4 per cent to 20-year record of 4,001 cases Burglary and related offences down 6 per cent, to 8,587 cases Overall drug crime up 9 per cent to 17,330 crimes recorded Public order crime up 3 per cent and driving offences down 1 per cent There were 1,559 cases of "possession of drugs for sale or supply", or drug dealing, detected in the second quarter of the year and 1,603 cases in the first quarter.
In the case of gun crime, the latest trends are mixed for the Garda. Gun killings, which are almost always linked to organised crime, are at unprecedented lows, with no fatal shootings last year and only one so far this year.
However, non-fatal incidents are rising, as feuds simmer, especially in parts of Dublin and Limerick. The number of firearms illegally discharged in the second quarter of this year, at 41, is significantly up on the 25 cases recorded in the first quarter of this year and the 29 incidents during the second quarter of last year.
However, gun crime is still way off its peak of the Celtic Tiger years, when up to 90 cases of illegal discharging of firearms were recorded quarterly.
Garda Source Comments on Trends
"It's not panic stations, but it's moving in the wrong direction," said one Garda source. "And when you look at the drugs numbers being up as well, it's all part of the same picture, you're talking about the same scene. " Other sources said a key driver of the increase in drug-crime detections was the expansion of the Garda force, with manpower close to the record levels seen before the pandemic after a recruitment drive over the past three years.
Extra personnel had allowed more proactive policing aimed at detecting drug dealing, including stop and searching and pre-planned operations, the sources said. They added the economic boom being experienced at present, with healthy disposable incomes despite cost-of-living pressures, has led to recreational drug users causing a boom in the drugs trade.
Crime Firearms Drugs Homicides Sexual Offences Garda CSO Dublin
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