THE RELEASE OF detailed crime statistics has been delayed for the second time because of concerns over gardaí under-reporting crime.
The Garda Inspectorate report released in November revealed under-reporting of crime and discrepancies in detections.
The CSO says that it will not be releasing the details of crimes across the country without a “detailed examination” of the issues.
Already, two sets of statistics, covering the second half of 2014, have been delayed. One was to be published at the end of March and the other was due to be released in November.
In a statement released on their website this week, the CSO says that it is undertaking a review of the Inspectorate Report.
The CSO is therefore currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the findings of the Garda Inspectorate report to assess the extent to which the findings of the Inspectorate are reflected in the data made available to the CSO for the compilation of recorded crime statistics.
On completion of this analysis the CSO will decide whether to resume publication of recorded crime statistics. If publication is resumed, users will be provided with a comprehensive analysis of the quality of the data source used for statistical purposes and by extension the quality of the recorded crime statistics.
The CSO has agreed to chair an expert panel to examine the Inspectorate’s recommendations on crime statistics.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said this week in the Dáil that the gardaí have “established an Implementation Steering Group to focus on the implementation of the short, medium and long-term recommendations in the Report”.
She said that the publishing of the statistics was a matter for the CSO, but that “Garda authorities have put in place a number of immediate measures arising from the Inspectorate’s recommendations in relation to the recording of crime”.
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