The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has reported a marked 18% increase in the number of recorded incidents of robbery, extortion and hijacking for the initial three months of the year, totalling 2,572 occurrences. In addition, a 10% rise in incidents involving weapons and explosives was noted, with the number escalating to 2,844.
The rate of thefts and associated offences also saw a growth of 9%, reaching 75,825 documented incidents, nearly 44% of which can be traced back to shoplifting. Noteworthy too is the rise in recorded cases of fraud, deception and alike offences; a 9% hike to 11,479 incidents.
The gradual shift of Ireland towards a cashless society correlated with a 43% surge in incidents of fraud and deception compared to 2020 levels. Conversely, crime statistics indicated a decline in a number of offence categories, including crimes against the Government, justice processes and organised crime, which decreased by 16%. Sexual offences saw a 12% drop and the number of murders and related crimes fell by 8%.
Controlled drugs-related offences experienced a 4% reduction on a year-to-year basis, dropping to 16,874 from 17,614. The data revealed that in the Q1 of the current year, all Garda regions saw a rise in recorded crime incidents in five out of the 14 offence categories.
The eastern regions (covering all of Leinster except for Louth and Dublin) reported an intensified increase in robbery, extortion and hijacking cases by almost a quarter (24%), closely trailed by the southern district (all Munster counties excluding Waterford) with a 21% increase.
Northern and eastern regions saw the highest surge in theft and related crimes, with respective increases of 18% and 15%. Dublin Metropolitan region had the smallest increase at just 5%. Meanwhile, this area, along with the eastern and southern regions had the most significant decreases in recorded sexual offences at 5%, 14% and 13% respectively.
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