Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he plans to work with his Northern counterpart to ensure that crime statistics are collected and collated on an all-Ireland basis as well as on division basis, in order to provide more meaningful data regarding local and national patterns. [4288/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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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 An 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, publishing and responding to queries regarding recorded crime statistics.

As part of fulfilling its mandate the CSO publishes a range of statistics on Northern Ireland, including statistics relating to crime and justice, in cooperation with the corresponding agency in Northern Ireland. Examples include the annual Statistical Yearbook of Ireland and Ireland North and South, a Statistical Profile.