Irish crime rate among worst in EU, finds study

IRELAND has the highest level of assaults, sexual crimes and robberies in the EU and it’s going to get worse, according to a major report of victims’ experiences.

The experts are concerned at what they say is serious under-reporting of crime in garda records and recommend the Government commission independent surveys and ensures smarter policing.

Carried out by market researchers Gallup, paid for by the European Union and coordinated by the UN’s crime and justice institute (UNICRI), the report says people in Ireland are at a very high risk of crime and describe the country as a crime hotspot.

In 2005, Ireland had:

*The highest levels of assaults with force in the EU (2.5% vs 1% EU average).

*The highest level of sexual assaults in the EU (at 3.8%).

*The highest rates of robberies in the EU (at 2.5%).

*High risk of theft of cars and from cars.

*High risk of theft from the person (at 7%, double the EU average).

*Ireland is also one of only three countries (including Britain and Estonia) to be above the EU average for both pick-pocketing and personal theft.

*Dublin is the fourth most dangerous city in the EU, on a par with Belfast and behind London and Amsterdam.

On the positive side, Ireland has the lowest levels of bribery; a very high regard for the gardaí (fifth highest); Those who reported crime were very happy with the way they were treated.

The crime figures are much higher than official statistics released by the gardaí and rates of many crimes are double those in the last Central Statistics Office survey of 2003.

The Department of Justice questions the figures, from a sample of 2,000 people surveyed over the phone, with a 42% response rate.

But the authors are adamant they are accurate and say they have been carrying out the survey using the same methods for more than 25 years.

“Because this was our first year to include Ireland in the survey, we repeated the poll twice, and got exactly the same results,” said criminologist Prof Jan Van Dijk.

He was not surprised that Ireland has the highest crime level because he said it goes hand-in-hand with increasing wealth.

“The conventional wisdom is that crime is driven by poverty, but over the last 20 years we have found again and again that affluence is the driver, and now that Ireland finds itself among the wealthiest countries in the EU, it has gained access too to the elite club of increased crime,” said Prof Van Dijk.

Ireland has still some way to go he believes before crime stops increasing and begins to drop. Better security, more education, smarter policing and people more willing to report crime to the gardaí would all help, he said.

“Ireland’s rates of reporting crime appear to be far too low. There may be sloppy recording by the police. Ireland should commission a national crime survey similar to that carried out in Britain for the last 25 years,” said Prof Van Dijk.

He believes the high levels of sexual harassment and assault recorded by the survey are partly related to alcohol. Hate crimes against immigrants, also high in Ireland, may be due to immigrants being a new experience for Irish people, he said.

A Department of Justice spokesperson said they are concerned about the issue of unreported crime and consequently had the CSO carry out victimisation surveys.

The next survey is due to be published in April and from 2008 a large-scale survey will be carried out every two years.

Reported crime dropped from 26 per 1,000 of the population in 2003 to 24.5 last year.