Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last week the Central Statistics Office published its recorded crime figures for the first quarter of 2018. Those figures reveal that in respect of sexual offences there was a 14.7% increase of recorded crime. When we consider this in light of the figures from the previous quarter, that is the last quarter of 2017, there appears to be a significant increase. The figures for the fourth quarter of 2017 showed a 17% increase in sexual offences, with a 28% increase in rape. What are these figures saying to the Minister and what, as Minister, does he intend to do about it?

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