Up to 90% of burglaries go unsolved in Clondalkin and Ballyfermot according to non-detection figures

By their nature such offences have some of the lowest detection rates of all crimes.

Across the country, gardaí are only successful in solving approximately 30% of these cases on average based on official crime figures for 2013-2015 (The figures for last year related to crimes recorded up to the end of September 2015).

Most of the districts with the lowest detection rates are located in Dublin and counties surrounding the capital.

An offence is classified as “detected” when criminal proceedings have commenced against at least one suspected offender.

The figures raise questions about the ability of gardai and the resources available to the force to tackle crime as detection rates for crimes involving property have been falling steadily in recent years.

A review of reported crimes by the Central Statistics Office published in November showed the detection rate for burglary fell from 24 per cent in 2009 to 20 per cent in 2013.

Detection rates for robbery dropped from 52 per cent to 41 per cent and for theft from 37 per cent to 33 per cent.

Councillor Eoin Ó Broin told The Echo that he was not surprised by the figures.

He said: “Local Garda stations across Dublin including Clondalkin and Lucan have been chronically understaffed for years. The local Gardaí are stretched beyond belief and are simply unable to cope with the volume of crime. It would be a mistake to scapegoat the Gardaí at a local level.”

Cllr Ó Broin said the issue lies with resources. He added: “ The failure is one of Government. Frances Fitzgerald is not only a local TD but also Minister for Justice. She is distributing election literature claiming increased resourcing for the constituency.

“Unfortunately this hides the fact that the overall level of staffing is still lower than when Fine Gael and Labour took office.”

Cllr Ó Broin said that Minister Fitzgerald must bear a “significant significant level of responsibility for failing to ensure that areas with high levels of crime, such as house break-ins in Clondalkin and Lucan, are not getting the level of resourcing they need.”

He added: “She has also failed to ensure that there is adequate administrative support for the Gardaí at a local level which means that Gardaí who should be out on the beat are spending too much time doing paperwork. Until these key issues are resolved the figures revealed this week will not change.”

A Spokesman for Minister Fitzgerald told The Echo that the Minister has ended the moratorium on Garda recruitment introduced by the last Government in 2009.

He added: “We have provided for the recruitment of 1,150 new Gardaí, including 600 this year. Of the new Gardai recruited last year 20 new recruits have been allocated to Lucan, Ronanstown & Clondalkin districts.”

He said that Minister Fitzgerald welcomed the latest CSO statistics published last month which show that burglaries are down 6.8 per cent for the third quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year.

He added: “The Minister has commended local Gardai on recent successes. At the recent Local Policing Forum held in the Clarion Hotel, it was reported that the crime of ‘unlawful taking of a vehicle’ was down 19 per cent in Lucan & Ronanstown in the first 10 months of 2015, while ‘theft from cars’ was down 28 per cent.”

 

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