James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I can tell the Deputy that there was a significant drop in the number of reported incidents of car theft nationally from 2015 to 2016 with the number of reported offences dropping by 29%. Numbers then remained quite stable until the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the number of reported cases dropped by a further 21% in 2020 compared with the 2019 figure. I am informed by the Garda authorities that the number of car thefts in many areas to date in 2022 has reflected the level seen in 2019. However, it is important to note that the levels seen in these years immediately prior to the pandemic were themselves significantly lower than those seen as recently as 2015. The number of instances of the theft or taking of a vehicle or related offences in 2019 was 6,450. By 2017, this figure had dropped to 4,594. In 2018 and 2019, the figures were slightly over the 4,700 mark but the figure dropped considerably in 2020 during the pandemic when it was a little easier to identify people who were out and about and engaged in nefarious carry-on.

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