Written answers

Thursday, 25 November 2021

Department of Justice and Equality

An Garda Síochána

Photo of James LawlessJames Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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131. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her assessment of the recently published statistics for recorded crime detection in 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57997/21]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the detection of and response to any criminal activity is an operational function for the Garda Commissioner. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.

The Central Statistics Office's latest release on Recorded Crime Detection, published earlier this month, identifies the percentage of crimes recorded by Gardaí in 2020 that had been deemed ‘detected’ by 2 September 2021. A crime is considered detected when a suspected offender has been identified and sanctioned for the crime.

The figures provide a sound baseline on which to measure policing performance going forward. As we all know, during 2020 the public health crisis continued to influence the needs of our communities, and this resulted in a change in the demands on policing. Crime types are increasingly more complex and can require resource-intensive investigations, but throughout 2020 the Commissioner and An Garda Síochána remained committed to protecting people from harm in public, private and virtual spaces.

The release provides an overview of the crimes reported to Gardaí and the figures show considerable variations in the proportions of the different types of crime incidents which were detected.

Gardaí are achieving significant successes in a range of crime categories and should be commended for their efforts. In comparison to the detection rates for crimes committed in 2019 at this stage after their occurrence, there have been welcome increases in detection rates in 2020 for a number of offence groups, including homicide offences at 82.1% (up over 16 percentage points on 2019 incidents at this time last year), attempts or threats to murder, assaults, harassment and related offences at 37.7% (up over 4 percentage points), burglary at 22.4% (up over 7 percentage points) and theft at 36.2% (up over 3 percentage points), as well as public order offences at 86.4% (up over 2 percentage points).

However, there were markedly lower detection rates for sexual offences. The 2020 figures reflect a rate of one in ten crimes detected to date (10.3%).

It is worth noting that the updated figures for 2019 suggests that there is an increase in detection for sexual offences over a longer period following reporting of the crime, with the percentage of detection of such offences recorded in 2019 increasing from 12% in September 2020, to over 20% by September 2021. This reflects the fact that sexual offence cases can be more complex and take more time to go through the Court system.

Reforming our criminal justice system to make sure victims feel confident and secure in reporting these crimes, that Gardaí have the tools to pursue perpetrators, and that the Courts deal with these cases as quickly as possible, is a top priority for me as Minister.

Photo of Pádraig O'SullivanPádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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132. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of incidents of drink spiking reported to An Garda Síochána in Cork city and county in recent months; the number of incidents reported nationally; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57994/21]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Spiking a person’s drink or spiking someone by injection are obviously very serious offences. They are, in effect, poisoning and they are criminal offences, under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, that can result in a three year prison term.

I can assure the Deputy that any incident of this type of crime, including those with evidence to suggest a link with ‘spiking’, will be investigated by either local Gardaí supported by, or attached to, Divisional Protective Services Units.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including the investigation of all allegations of criminal activity. As Minister, I play no role in these independent functions.

I am advised by the Garda authorities that identifying incidents which involve drink spiking for statistical purposes is dependent on the use of keywords in the incident narrative. I am further advised that a search was carried out on the PULSE system for incidents reported between 1 January 2021 and 21 November 2021 which include any of the following terms in the narrative or investigation notes: “spike”, “spiking” or “date rape”.

I am advised by the Garda authorities that this search indicates that, as of 21 November 2021, there have been 46 crime incidents recorded nationally this year. 25 of these incidents specifically refer to syringes or needles. The remaining 21 either refer to drink spiking or do not specify the method of spiking. Fewer than 10 of these incidents relates to incidents of drink spiking recorded in the Garda Divisions of Cork City, Cork North and Cork West. As the Deputy may be aware, An Garda Síochána Analysis Service does not typically report on details where there are fewer than 10 incidents in a given period, as there is a risk, due to the sensitive nature of the information, that offenders or victims may be identified if the information were to be released.

It is worth noting that figures are operational and liable to change and are based on a reported date using data obtained from PULSE.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 has been widely recognised as a landmark piece of legislation dealing with consent and exploitation in sexual activity. For the first time, it set out in statute what consent actually means - a free and voluntary agreement between people to engage in sexual activity.

The 2017 Act amended the Criminal Law (Rape) Amendment Act 1990, to set out certain circumstances where consent is impossible, such as when a person is asleep or unconscious, or if they are so drunk or intoxicated that they are in no position to consider the activity and make up their mind.

The commitment of this Government to combatting domestic, sexual and gender based violence and to supporting victims is reflected in the funding allocated under Budget 2022, with a total of €13m allocated to the Department of Justice in this area. This represents an increased allocation of €5.35m and will enable the roll out of specific awareness raising and training programmes to combat domestic, sexual and gender based violence. It will also provide additional supports to NGOs and specific domestic violence intervention programmes, and it will support a number of front-line activities.

The Deputy will be interested to note that a national public awareness campaign, led by my Department, around the meaning and understanding of consent in the context of sexual relationships will be launched in the new year.

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