Written answers
Tuesday, 5 October 2021
Department of Justice and Equality
An Garda Síochána
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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530. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of assaults on gardaí in each of the years 2015 to 2020 and to date in 2021, by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48122/21]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Justice, I am deeply conscious of the risks encountered by all members of An Garda Síochána every time they go on duty. All assaults, of whatever nature, are a blatant disregard for the safety of the brave people in uniform who risk their lives every day in the service of the State.
An Garda Síochána have advised me that a search of the PULSE database was conducted on 4 October 2021 to identify any incident of assault reported nationwide from 1January 2015 whereby a ‘Garda Injured Party’ was linked to the incident. It should be noted that this data therefore may include all types of injury recorded. PULSE was updated in October 2020 to allow for more precise recording of assaults on Garda members.
The number of such incidents reported per Garda Division is as follows:
Garda Division | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021* |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cavan/Monaghan | 28 | 20 | 38 | 29 | 34 | 30 | 21 |
Clare | 16 | 18 | 11 | 10 | ** | 14 | 11 |
Cork City | 67 | 41 | 45 | 40 | 36 | 53 | 33 |
Cork North | 30 | 34 | 38 | 22 | 44 | 34 | 27 |
Cork West | 13 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 36 | 23 | 10 |
DMR Eastern | 15 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 26 | 10 |
DMR North Central | 35 | 28 | 34 | 53 | 65 | 86 | 29 |
DMR Northern | 62 | 40 | 25 | 51 | 58 | 67 | 34 |
DMR South Central | 31 | 22 | 27 | 30 | 52 | 73 | 43 |
DMR Southern | 30 | 29 | 29 | 39 | 35 | 64 | 27 |
DMR Western | 53 | 43 | 61 | 43 | 57 | 58 | 32 |
Donegal | 19 | 32 | 37 | 33 | 32 | 47 | 35 |
Galway | 25 | 20 | 32 | 34 | 32 | 65 | 24 |
Kerry | 29 | 22 | 28 | 36 | 39 | 30 | 10 |
Kildare | 26 | 10 | 14 | 20 | 17 | 26 | 19 |
Kilkenny/Carlow | 33 | 38 | 12 | 18 | 32 | 27 | 22 |
Laois/Offaly | 31 | 29 | 17 | 22 | 40 | 49 | 35 |
Limerick | 32 | 24 | 18 | 25 | 23 | 28 | 14 |
Louth | 26 | 40 | 23 | 38 | 33 | 42 | 29 |
Mayo | 13 | 26 | 16 | 11 | 24 | 18 | 22 |
Meath | 25 | 10 | 21 | 19 | 31 | 26 | 13 |
Roscommon/Longford | 22 | 10 | 18 | 11 | 29 | 26 | ** |
Sligo/Leitrim | 15 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 25 | 26 | 16 |
Tipperary | 47 | 40 | 60 | 64 | 32 | 30 | 32 |
Waterford | 34 | 44 | 38 | 37 | 32 | 49 | 16 |
Westmeath | 17 | 23 | 11 | 20 | 31 | 26 | 13 |
Wexford | 13 | 17 | 24 | 11 | 21 | 29 | 14 |
Wicklow | 30 | ** | 16 | ** | 19 | 24 | 17 |
** Count <10
Note: Figures were collated based on PULSE data as of 1:30am on 4 October 2021. These are operational and may be liable to change.
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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531. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of public order offences that were handed out in each of the years 2015 to 2020 and to date in 2021, by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48123/21]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Garda authorities that Gardaí deploy a wide range of operational measures aimed at tackling public-order offences and anti-social behaviour in all contexts. The legal framework which assists the Gardaí in tackling this type of crime includes provisions under the Criminal Damage Act 1991; the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994; the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 2003; and the Intoxicating Liquor Acts 2003 and 2008.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of all crime statistics. The CSO produces these statistics using data recorded on An Garda Síochána’s PULSE system and makes regular releases under reservation in relation to various crime statistics, including recorded and detected crime, and listing them by Garda Division. The CSO also continues to work with An Garda Síochána to address quality issues in the underlying data sources used to compile the statistics.
For the Deputy's information, the number of public order offences recorded across the State from 2015 up to Q2 of 2021 are available at cso.ie/en/statistics/crimeandjustice/
For the Deputy's information, the following table provides a breakdown of public order offences recorded by Garda Region from 2015 to end of Quarter 2 of 2021.
Public Order Offences | Dublin Metropolitan Region | North Western Region | Eastern Region | Southern Region |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015Q1 | 2677 | 1476 | 1390 | 2062 |
2015Q2 | 3128 | 1514 | 1535 | 2291 |
2015Q3 | 2946 | 1742 | 1571 | 2376 |
2015Q4 | 3037 | 1736 | 1527 | 2258 |
2015 Total | 11788 | 6468 | 6023 | 8987 |
2016Q1 | 2266 | 1655 | 1388 | 1841 |
2016Q2 | 2092 | 1557 | 1356 | 1991 |
2016Q3 | 2321 | 1755 | 1406 | 2079 |
2016Q4 | 2409 | 1665 | 1470 | 1959 |
2016 Total | 9088 | 6632 | 5620 | 7870 |
2017Q1 | 2401 | 1438 | 1318 | 1846 |
2017Q2 | 2660 | 1688 | 1476 | 2130 |
2017Q3 | 2781 | 1750 | 1604 | 2143 |
2017Q4 | 2681 | 1723 | 1559 | 1984 |
2017 Total | 10523 | 6599 | 5957 | 8103 |
2018Q1 | 2342 | 1481 | 1199 | 1885 |
2018Q2 | 2714 | 1773 | 1490 | 2231 |
2018Q3 | 2553 | 1876 | 1653 | 2374 |
2018Q4 | 2809 | 1809 | 1627 | 2149 |
2018 Total | 10418 | 6939 | 5969 | 8639 |
2019Q1 | 2598 | 1580 | 1485 | 1801 |
2019Q2 | 2779 | 1799 | 1626 | 2139 |
2019Q3 | 2878 | 1974 | 1638 | 2176 |
2019Q4 | 2677 | 1909 | 1482 | 1855 |
2019 Total | 10932 | 7262 | 6231 | 7971 |
2020Q1 | 2520 | 1403 | 1273 | 1602 |
2020Q2 | 3052 | 1389 | 1348 | 1700 |
2020Q3 | 3175 | 1552 | 1471 | 1988 |
2020Q4 | 2741 | 1202 | 1100 | 1520 |
2020 Total | 11488 | 5546 | 5192 | 6810 |
2021Q1 | 2479 | 1135 | 931 | 1406 |
2021Q2 | 2654 | 1367 | 1329 | 1780 |
2021 Total to date | 5133 | 2502 | 2260 | 3186 |
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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532. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of e-scooters that were stolen by county in each of the years 2015 to 2020 and to date in 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48124/21]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including the recording of crimes reported to An Garda Síochána. As Minister for Justice, I have no direct role in these matters.
The Deputy will also appreciate that matters relating to legislative and regulatory classification of e-scooters, and other modes of mechanical transport, are under the remit of the Minister for Transport.
I am informed by the Garda authorities that scooters can be recorded on the Garda PULSE system as both vehicles and objects, and that a restriction of the query to vehicle records where the specific type of scooter is recorded would result in a significant under-reporting of figures.
I am also informed by the Garda authorities that a manual review of Garda records would be required to determine the number of e-scooters reported as stolen. I am further advised that a significant and disproportionate amount of Garda resources would be required to fulfil the Deputy’s request for data regarding nearly seven years, and that, in light of the complexities outlined above, An Garda Síochána is not in a position to provide the information sought by the Deputy.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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533. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her attention has been drawn to reports that appointments with the Garda National Immigration Bureau are being booked and sold online by a non-authorised entity; the steps her Department has taken to investigate this matter since it was raised in a parliamentary question (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48177/21]
James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is aware that there have been issues in the past around the securing of registration appointments and has continually introduce software fixes designed to prevent such abuses of the system. These new measures have been partly successful in preventing the block booking of appointments by third party agents.
However, some third party agents continue to provide appointment booking services in return for payment on the basis that the person provides them with their personal details in advance. My Department strongly advises against this practice of providing sensitive and personal data to unregulated and unknown third parties.
Customers should continue to apply directly for appointments as they become available without charge, through the online appointments system: www.burghquayregistrationoffice.inis.gov.ie
A new Immigration Service appointment and scheduling system, which will streamline and further improve the registration process, is currently being developed and is expected to be available to customers in November 2021.
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