Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 1206: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the crime figures for Kildare for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2530/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The following tables provide the total offences for the ten headline offences groups recorded and detected in the Garda districts of Baltinglass, Carlow, Naas and Kildare for the years 2001 to 2005.

The figures provided for 2005 are provisional, operational and liable to change.

The PULSE computer system to record crime figures was introduced in 1999. As with the introduction of any new system it took time before users were fully competent in its use. Senior management of the Garda Síochána has stated that since its introduction a more accurate base year to use is 2002.

Any interpretation of the crime figures should factor in the increase in our population in the past ten years. In 1995, with a population of almost 3.6 million people, there were 29 crimes per 1,000 of the population. In the year up to 30 September 2005, with a population of over 4.1 million, there was the equivalent of 24 crimes per 1,000 of the population.