MURDERS WERE UP 31% in Ireland last year compared to the year previous.
The crime figures from the Central Statistics Office also showed sexual offences increased by 8% and sexual assaults on children were up over 20%.
The number of sexual offences was higher in Dublin compared to the rest of the country.
There was also a sharp rise in neglect and cruelty with over 260 cases of child cruelty or neglect last year, an increase of over 50%.
Murders
There were 38 murders in 2016, compared to 29 in 2015.
The ongoing feud between the Hutch and Kinahan gangs accounted for the deaths of ten people last year.
For a larger image of the above chart, click here.
There was a drop in kidnappings, hijackings and robberies but a 6% increase in drugs crime.
In a note attached with the statistics, the CSO referenced the investigation into the number of garda breath tests carried out between 2012 and 2016. It said:
The CSO requested data on the 148,000 offences to establish whether any of these offences had been incorrectly included in the quarterly recorded crime data as additional incidents.
It concluded that “An Garda Siochana provided the details of the 148,000 offences and the CSO have determined that these offences do not appear to have affected the quarterly Recorded Crime series.”
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