Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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53. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of crimes recorded on PULSE in 2016 in which the initial classification of the crime was subsequently changed to another type of crime, for example, a burglary being reclassified as criminal damage. [26451/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the publication of recorded crime statistics. The latest CSO quarterly Recorded Crime Statistics release was published on 29 March 2017 and shows crime trends for the twelve months ending 31 December 2016.

I am advised that the degree of reclassification of crime incidents, as referred to by the Deputy, is not included in the CSO quarterly reports. However, the approach to classification and re-classification of data has been considered in two reports by the CSO which analysed the quality of recorded crime data on the PULSE system. I understand that the latest such report, which is available on the CSO website, was published in September 2016 and sampled crime data from 2015.

I am pleased that the CSO have indicated that they intend to conduct further reviews of crime data quality and I believe that this will provide us with an important degree of re-assurance in relation to the accuracy and integrity of our crime statistics.