The latest figures on recorded crime show big increases in a number of categories in 2022 compared with 2021.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show that thefts recorded the biggest rise – just under 66,000 incidents in this category represented a jump of just over 40%.

Homicides were up by more than 30%, while there was a 17% rise in the category covering murder attempts or threats, assaults, and harassments.

Robbery, extortion and hijacking recorded an increase of 19%, while burglaries were up 10%. Sexual offences were 6% higher than in 2021.

Big drop in fraud incidents

Fraud offences were down by 32%, however, while controlled-drug offences fell by 13%.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, there were 19 homicides – a jump of 73% compared with a year earlier. Thefts increased by 27% to almost 17,000 incidents.

Fraud offences dropped by 56%, largely driven by a fall in unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone.

The CSO points out, however, that the level of fraud offences is still well above pre-pandemic levels.

More older victims of violence

Homicides, sexual offences, and the category that covers murder attempts or threats, assaults, and harassments are also above 2019 levels.

The 2022 figure for burglaries is, however, 44% below the 2019 level, incidents of controlled-drug offences are almost 20% behind the figure for 2019.

The CSO figures for victims of assaults, threats, or harassment in the final quarter of 2022 show a particularly sharp increase of almost 120% in incidents against males aged between 45 and 59, while the figure for the 18-29 age group dropped by almost 90%.

There were increases in the number of female victims in all age groups – with the biggest rise again in the 45-59 group.

The CSO still categorises the figures for recorded crime as ‘statistics under reservation’, due to concerns about the quality of data from the garda PULSE system.