Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 219: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform further to his response to Parliamentary Question No. 149 of 5 April 2007, if he will explain his statement that headline crime in the Carlow/Kildare division has reduced when it has in fact increased by 12% in 2006. [15222/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Any interpretation of the crime figures has to factor in the increase in population. In 1995, with a population of 3.6 million, there were 28.5 crimes per 1,000 of the population. In 2006, with a population of over 4.2 million, there were 24.5 crimes per 1,000 of the population, a significant reduction by any standard.

During the two full years of the Rainbow Coalition Government (1995 and 1996), the corresponding figures were 28.5 and 27.8. Since 2003, the first full year of this Government, the figures dropped from 26 crimes per 1,000 of the population in 2003 to 24.5 in 2006, with the figures for 2004 and 2005 being 24.5 and 24.8 respectively. The crime rate per 1,000 of the population in 2006 was therefore the lowest in the period of office of this Government.

The most recent crime statistics are the provisional headline crime statistics published by the Central Statistics Office for the fourth quarter of 2006 and the full year of 2006. The figures for the fourth quarter of 2006 continue the improvement in the headline crime statistics evident since the second quarter of the year. Following a worrying increase of 10.1% in the first quarter, there was a slight increase of 0.8% in the second quarter, followed by accelerating decreases of 1.5% and 3.2% in the third and fourth quarters. As a result, the outturn for the year was an increase in headline crime of 1.4%, compared with an increase of 3% in 2005. The reduction in headline crime in the Carlow / Kildare Division for the fourth quarter of 2006 is in line with the reduction nationally. The initiatives put in place by local Garda management in the Division have contributed to this improvement.