Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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114. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her views on the difference in all the crime statistics for the years 2008 and 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43535/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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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. The most recent multi-annual overview published by the CSO covers the period 2008-2012 and reported reductions in 10 of the 16 crime categories listed over that period. The annual figures published by CSO for 2013 report reductions in 11 out of the 14 categories featured in the annual statistics. Within this broad overall trend, certain categories of offences have fluctuated over time.

The Deputy will also be aware that following on the Report of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate on Crime Investigation , the CSO is to carry out a detailed analysis of certain issues raised in the Inspectorate Report to see whether and to what extent they may have implications for the official crime statistics which that Office produces. I await that assessment, which the Deputy will appreciate will take some time to complete.

In this regard I can also advise the Deputy that at the CSO will chair an expert panel to examine the Inspectorate's recommendations on crime statistics.The expert panel will review the crime counting and detection rules, as recommended by the Inspectorate, with a view to introducing new national standards. As well as including representatives of the Department and An Garda Síochána, the panel will have outside experts with relevant expertise.

I have also welcomed the fact that the CSO will now examine the means of carrying out a national Crime and Victimisation Survey in the near future, which will provide further insight into the extent and nature of crime in Ireland, independent of reported crime statistics.