Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 504: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the detection rate and the conviction rate for rape here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29543/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Following the submission in 2004 of a report and recommendations by an expert group on crime statistics, it was 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, the CSO is now compiling and publishing criminal statistics and has published provisional headline crime statistics since the third quarter 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 statistics sought by the Deputy directly to her. I should add that my Department has established a new Executive Office, Cosc: the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence. Cosc is working with the Courts, the Gardaí, the Probation Service, other relevant state agencies, and NGOs, to develop evidence-based strategies to combat these crimes.