In order to provide some background to the issues raised in this discussion document, Appendix 1 includes data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on recorded crime in Ireland between 2003 and 2008. The CSO is responsible for compiling and publishing Irish crime statistics based on data recorded in the Garda PULSE system. From 2003 a new Irish Crime Classification System (ICCS) has been applied to Garda statistics.

Some, but not all, of the different types of crime have increased during this period but within these overall trends there are further variations from year to year. Changes in recorded crime can be influenced by several factors, including criminal behaviour, police activity and legislative changes.

While statistics generated from Garda records provide valuable information about crime levels and trends, public crime surveys are used in many countries to complement police statistics. In Ireland, the CSO has included questions on crime and victimisation in the Quarterly National Household Survey on three occasions (1998, 2003 and 2006). These surveys show that the number of victims of selected crimes increased from 2.4% in 1998 to 5.2% in 2003 but fell back to 4.6% in 2006.