Ireland near bottom of EU table for deaths from assault, figures show

Ireland has one of the lowest death rates from assaults in the EU, according to official figures.

The crime has been falling generally across the union, including in Ireland, the data shows.

The statistics, which cover 2002 until 2015, examine deaths caused as a result of an assault.

Ireland scores the second-lowest rate, marginally below France and Germany, but above Britain, which registers the lowest number of such deaths.

Males accounted for 85% of assault deaths in 2014 and 2015 in Ireland, compared to an EU average of around 65%.

The EU Eurostat agency found that deaths from assault are far higher in the Baltic States than in the rest of Europe.

In absolute numbers, Germany (441 deaths) and Italy (395) recorded the most deaths from assault in 2015.

But when the figures are adjusted to the size of the population, it shows a different picture.

Latvia registered the highest number of such deaths (5.1 per 100,000 inhabitants), followed by Lithuania (4.1), and Estonia (3.6).

“At the opposite end of the scale, in 2015, the lowest rates of deaths due to assault were recorded in the United Kingdom (0.1), Ireland, France, and Germany (all 0.5),” Eurostat said.

At EU level, the assault death rate stood, on average, at 0.7 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015.

The figure for Ireland in 2015 stood at 0.47, compared to 0.52 in France, and 0.53 in Germany.

The bulk of countries in western Europe had rates well below 1.

In terms of total numbers, 3,583 people died in this way in the EU in 2015: 2,276 (64%) male and 1,304 (36%) female.

In Ireland, there were 21 such deaths, 18 (86%) male and three female (14%), reflecting a far higher death rate among men.

It was similar to 2014, when there were 32 such deaths in Ireland, 27 (84%) of them male, compared to the EU average (65%).

Garda authorities have been concerned at a rise in assaults in the last few years, after a fall in assaults between 2008 and 2013.

The number has increased since then and peaked in 2017, reaching the highest number for ten years.

Preliminary garda figures show that 2018, to date, is on a par with the same period last year. It prompted the garda ‘Use Your Brain Not Your Fists’ campaign, aimed at young men.

CSO figures show that the number of assaults rose from 14,365, in 2013, to 18,803, in 2017.