Written answers

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Department of Justice and Equality

Crime Statistics

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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285. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to the broadcast of the Prime Time investigation entitled Riches from Rags on 25 April, 2013, which chronicled scores of alleged thefts from charitable clothes bins across the State, if he will confirm the number of individual crime reports that have been registered on the PULSE system and when the crime reports were registered on PULSE; and the way such alleged thefts are shown in crime statistics reported by the Central Statistics Office. [21187/13]

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Garda authorities that it is not possible to provide the number of individual reports taken by Gardaí relating to charitable clothes bins across the State as they are not recorded on PULSE in a specific incident type. I am further informed that each offence would have to be examined manually to identify if it related to a clothes bank or not and would require a disproportionate expenditure of Garda time and resources to compile. The Garda Síochána Act 2005 makes provision for the compilation and publication of crime statistics by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, and the CSO has established a dedicated unit for this purpose. I have requested the CSO to provide any relevant information which may be available directly to the Deputy, having regard to the situation outlined above concerning the recording of such incidents.

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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286. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question 900 on 16 April, 2013, the way a member of the public who has reported a crime to An Garda Síochána can be confident that the crime has been entered onto the Garda PULSE system. [21188/13]

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The General Crime Counting Rules and the Technical Notes referred to in my reply to Parliamentary Question 900 of 16 April 2013 provide detailed information on the recording of crime. The most recent publication in which this information is provided is the CSO Recorded Crime for the fourth quarter of 2012. As stated previously, supervisory ranks within An Garda Síochána review all incidents recorded on PULSE to ensure that the correct crime classification is recorded. Further to this supervision, the Garda Information Service Centre (GISC), the central authority for recording crime incidents on PULSE, also monitors and reviews PULSE information to ensure the crime classification is correct. The Deputy will also be aware that the Garda Commissioner, in response to recent questions concerning this matter, has provided strong assurances to the public that all crimes reported to the Gardaí will be fully and thoroughly investigated and offenders brought to justice wherever possible.

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