Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 92: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of headline offences recorded and detected for each Garda division in the Louth area for year ending 31 December 2002 and to date in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6953/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Following the submission to me in 2004 of a report and recommendations by an expert group on crime statistics, I decided that the compilation and publication of crime statistics should be taken over by the Central Statistics Office, as the national statistical agency, from the Garda Síochána. The Garda Síochána Act, 2005 consequently makes provision for this and the CSO has established a dedicated unit for this purpose. Following the setting up of the necessary technical systems and auditing of the data from which the statistics are compiled, I am pleased to note that the CSO is now compiling and publishing criminal statistics and has published provisional headline crime statistics for the third and fourth quarters of 2006. In addition, it has compiled and published a series of quarterly and annual statistics for the period starting with the first quarter of 2003. I understand that the CSO are examining how the crime statistics published might be expanded and made more comprehensive.

I have requested the CSO to provide the information sought by the Deputy directly to him.