The latest figures for recorded crime show a sharp rise in the number of incidents linked to robbery, extortion and hijacking in the 12 months to the end of March 2024.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said that such incidents rose by 18% to 2,572 in the year to the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.

Incidents involving weapons or explosives also rose over the year – by 10% to 2,844.

Crimes of theft and related offences were up by 9% to 75,825. The CSO says that more than 40% of these incidents involved theft from shops.

The other category showing a large increase was fraud and related offences, which rose by 9% to 11,479 incidents.

Assault victims

Homicides were down by 8%, however, while sexual offences dropped by 12%.

The figures show that offences involving attempts or threats to murder, assaults, and harassments were down by 2% compared with the previous 12 months.

The number of male victims, however, rose by 2%, while the number of female victims was down by 9%.

The CSO said that five of the 14 categories of crime recorded increases across all garda regions. The most significant increases were in the following categories: robbery, extortion, and hijacking; theft; and fraud.

Sexual offences fell in all garda regions, as did offences against Government, justice procedures, and organisation of crime. The latter category covers offences committed while in custody and breaches of court orders.

COVID impact

The CSO noted that, while burglary incidents have increased since the lifting of COVID restrictions, the figures remain 40% lower than those recorded in 2020.

In contrast, fraud offences are more than 40% higher compared with the 2020 figure.

The CSO lifted the ‘under reservation’ designation from crime figures disseminated after Q1 2023, following better quality control assurances for An Garda Síochána data.