Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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49. To ask the Taoiseach if it remains the case that the Central Statistics Office continues to publish crime statistics using data recorded on An Garda Síochána's PULSE system "under reservation"; the length of time the CSO has been dissatisfied with the quality of recorded crime data; and when it is expected that the crime data will be of a standard to enable its publication without requiring the "under reservation" qualifier. [5690/23]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The CSO publishes Recorded Crimestatistics on a quarterly basis. The Recorded Crimeseries provides statistics on the number of crime incidents recorded by An Garda Síochána (AGS), classified by incident type, incident reported date, and location, as recorded on the PULSE system.

Statistics are also provided on crime detections (following data quality improvements in PULSE), on victims and suspected offenders, as well as annual statistics on prisoner and probationer recidivism.

Commencing in March 2018, Crime statistics based on PULSE have been classified by CSO as ‘Statistics under Reservation’ to indicate to users concerns the CSO has in respect of the underlying data source. The CSO has been engaged with AGS to progress implementation of an improvement plan and this continues at this date.

The CSO advises that Recorded Crime statistics will remain ‘Under Reservation’ for the present time, and the CSO will continue to publish crime statistics sourced from PULSE given the important societal need to have information on crime in Ireland. The pathway to lifting the ‘Under Reservation’ is in building enhanced public confidence in the quality of PULSE crime data. This can be achieved through a trusted and transparent data quality verification process by An Garda Síochána, rooted in a clear appreciation of the data quality risks involved in the crime reporting and recording process. Robust, trustworthy crime statistics are a vital tool for decision makers and society, and the CSO remains committed to advising and assisting An Garda Síochána in improving data for statistical purposes.

The CSO published the fourth Review of the Quality of Recorded Crime Statistics in July 2021. This review noted that there is a need for An Garda Síochána to monitor and evaluate data quality, and, ultimately, to report on data quality in a transparent way to users. Work by An Garda Síochána is underway in this area, and progress is being made. In addition, an independent review of the data quality controls in place for recorded crime on PULSE is required. The CSO notes that such a review is currently underway by external consultants. CSO staff have engaged with this review as well, meeting with the consultants, and look forward to seeing the results of the review as we work with An Garda Síochána to further build assurance levels in PULSE crime data.A fifth Quality Review by CSO is scheduled for later in 2023 which will assess the status of previous Review recommendations as well as performing the standard CSO quality checks on the underlying data .