Crime figures show big drop in homicides
Official figures show that recorded incidents of crime fell in most categories in the year to the first quarter (Q1) of 2025.
There were big falls in the number of recorded homicides – down 34% – and offences linked to robbery, extortion, and hijacking, which fell by 12%. Burglary offences also dropped by 6%.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show, however, that the number of sexual offences recorded rose by 15% during the 12 months, while offences linked to public order were up 5%.
Assault victims
The category covering attempts or threats to murder, assaults, harassments, and related offences showed a 3% increase over the 12-month period.
The number of victims of such incidents fell by 1% compared with a year earlier to 5,370, with the number of male victims down by 3% and the number of female victims up by 1%.
The CSO says that, while there were changes in the number of male and female victims within the different age groups, the overall age profile of male and female victims has remained relatively stable for the Q1 period since 2022.
Figures on fraud offences are still being affected by a backlog in the recording of such incidents reported by financial institutions on the garda PULSE system.
The 11,305 fraud-related incidents in the year to Q1 2025 are based only on those reported directly to gardaí by members of the public.
Four-year trends
The CSO figures also provide an analysis of crime trends over the four-year period since 2022, which show significant increases in some categories.
The 74,102 incidents linked to theft recorded in the year to Q1 2025 show a 46% jump since the same period in 2022. Robbery, extortion, and hijacking offences rose by 24% over the four years.
Weapons-and-explosives offences were up 14% from 2022, while attempts or threats to murder, assaults, and harassments rose by 12%.