Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can assure the Deputy that this Government is deeply committed to tackling sexual violence and sexual crime in all its forms.

Working to ensure that victims feel empowered to report sexual crimes and that when they do, they are fully supported at every stage of their interaction with our justice system, has been a priority for me as Minister for Justice.

Building the confidence of victims is a cornerstone of the actions set out in Supporting a Victim’s Journey. The implementation of this important action plan is continuing and a number of key actions have already been delivered including:

• The establishment of a course in University of Limerick to train intermediaries;
• Legislating for preliminary trial hearings;
• Undertaking a mapping exercise to identify gaps in services and supports provided for victims, both geographically and by service type, and the provision of increased funding to address them; and
• The first cohort of staff at a new sexual offences unit in the Director of Public Prosecutions took up their roles.

Last year, I published Zero Tolerance - Third National Strategy to combat Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, which underlines the Government’s commitment to tackling sexual violence in all its forms. The plan recognises the importance of strong legislation, of reporting, of supports for victims and of a co-ordinated approach in our work with victims, and outlines the actions we will take in each of these areas.

I am also very aware of the importance of comprehensive and robust data in this area. That is why my Department commissioned the CSO to undertake a national survey of the prevalence of sexual violence, the results of which were published in April. This will provide an important baseline for evaluating the vital work across all of Government under the Zero Tolerance Strategy.

In relation to the specific information sought by the Deputy on the number of persons arrested for rape or sexual assault in each county in the State in each of the past ten years, I have sought this information from An Garda Síochána and it is presented in the table below.

A search of the PULSE database was conducted for Custody Logs associated with incidents in the Category “Sexual Offences” and where the arrest or entry date occurs during the period 01/01/2012 – 15/10/2023

The number of Custody Logs by Division and by year in the period 2012 to the 15th of October 2023 is shown in the table below.

Region	Division	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023(1)
Dublin Region	D.M.R. Eastern	20	23	19	27	20	34	27	21	28	20	28	21
Dublin Region	D.M.R. North Central	57	36	30	31	24	25	41	47	71	69	62	60
Dublin Region	D.M.R Northern	57	35	32	52	51	75	59	62	43	70	52	54
Dublin Region	D.M.R. South Central	32	42	46	45	41	38	62	61	63	55	39	18
Dublin Region	D.M.R. Southern	39	41	54	61	65	74	51	61	66	111	45	43
Dublin Region	D.M.R. Western	45	36	40	38	47	30	33	36	57	62	46	36
Eastern Region (NEW)	Kildare Div	12	18	29	28	22	27	26	43	51	54	57	33
Eastern Region (NEW)	Kilkenny/Carlow	30	27	18	32	39	39	32	40	38	30	24	26
Eastern Region (NEW)	Laois/Offaly	16	23	29	20	33	45	45	36	45	63	46	47
Eastern Region (NEW)	Meath Div	37	23	14	19	16	14	28	22	23	33	26	31
Eastern Region (NEW)	Waterford Div	50	46	48	43	29	42	60	43	77	65	93	57
Eastern Region (NEW)	Westmeath Div	12	*	*	15	13	14	11	25	19	23	17	15
Eastern Region (NEW)	Wexford Div	16	14	30	31	43	48	41	48	76	76	72	58
Eastern Region (NEW)	Wicklow Div	15	14	39	23	26	27	20	38	36	36	20	35
North Western Region	Cavan/Monaghan	43	34	24	28	22	26	37	32	25	24	29	36
North Western Region	Donegal	29	24	21	29	28	47	45	46	29	50	27	40
North Western Region	Galway Div	25	31	20	21	41	34	24	25	31	35	22	32
North Western Region	Louth	24	15	25	27	36	35	19	36	31	29	27	22
North Western Region	Mayo/Roscommon/Longford	17	17	23	32	34	30	39	39	50	51	41	27
North Western Region	Sligo/Leitrim	12	13	10	11	13	16	15	29	19	18	28	*
Southern Region (New)	Clare/Tipperary	54	62	36	70	56	58	39	52	58	78	80	35
Southern Region (New)	Cork City	44	43	53	38	33	45	49	48	45	49	45	30
Southern Region (New)	Cork North	23	22	29	36	33	34	53	50	33	29	37	32
Southern Region (New)	Cork West	13	18	19	10	14	14	22	21	22	20	13	13
Southern Region (New)	Kerry	26	29	27	36	22	28	30	41	32	30	33	44
Southern Region (New)	Limerick	44	51	41	41	53	45	57	49	60	48	59	46

(1) - Up to 15/10/2023

*- Less than 10

Additional Information

Incident data is based upon operational data from the PULSE system as was available at 01:00 on 16/10/2023 and is liable to change.