Crime figures - Different standards

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern told us yesterday that rapes, burglaries and robberies increased by almost 10% last year. While violent deaths dropped slightly, he said he was concerned at the high level of killings – 53 murders, two manslaughter cases and 25 people killed by dangerous driving.

Fraud, deception and related offences – 5,410 in all – were down by 9.6%. We turn a blind eye to white-collar crime and we have paid dearly for this.

Yesterday a businessmen was given a two-year suspended sentence for non-payment of taxes. He accepted he had a liability of €1.128m but that due to “lack of funds” this could only be repaid on a “staged basis”.

If he had stolen this money he would have got a very different sentence. Why is this?