Operation Hybrid has prevented over fifty gangland murders, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said in response to CSO figures showing the murder rate as static at 77 for 2018, with no change on the previous year.

The Minister said gardaí have made significant progress in tackling the “insidious threat" of organised crime, particularly in Dublin’s north inner city.

Operation Hybrid is a targeted response to ongoing attempts by criminal gangs to commit murder, the Minister said.

The CSO figures show that while burglaries are slightly down, by 0.8 per cent, other property-related crime has crept upwards over the 12-month period to the end of the second quarter of 2018. 

Robbery is up 15 per cent to 18,368 offences while theft is up two per cent at 68,248 recorded instances.

Fraud, deception and related incidents have dropped by 138 incidents to 5,338 offences, from 5,746 the previous year. The Minister welcomed the establishment of a confidential garda tip-line in this regard.  

The commencement of the Corruption Offences Act 2018 during the summer has also led to an upswing in prosecutions of fraud and similar offences, the Minister said.

Property crimes

Property and environmental damage crimes were down by three per cent to 22,184, from 22,875 the previous year.

There were 31,320 public order offences, a jump of 4.3 per cent on the previous figure of 30,042.

The garda budget stands at €1.65 billion for 2018, which the Minister described as “an unprecedented sum”.