Crime statistics collected and published by Ireland’s Garda Síochána, the country’s national police force, have revealed a worrying uptick in serious criminal offenses like murder, rape, and sexual assault since 2019, mirroring a similar, disconcerting—yet largely disregarded—trend witnessed in Emmanuel Macron’s France last year.
In a press release published on Thursday, March 2nd, the Garda Síochána revealed Ireland’s crime statistics for 2022, which indicate that reports of rape and sexual assault were 13% and 8% higher, respectively, compared to those recorded in 2019. Compared to statistics from 2011, the number of sex crimes jumped by 75%.
The comparison with records from just a little over a decade ago is revealing. In 2011, 2000 sexual offenses were committed; in 2021, authorities recorded more than 3,400. During the same period—2011 through 2022—the number of rapes reported across Ireland doubled, the government figures show.
Murders across Ireland increased even more precipitously, jumping more than three-quarters last year alone, with statistics showing there were 44 cases of murder or manslaughter in 2022, versus 25 the year before—a leap of 76%.
The number of instances where police responded to calls that reported domestic abuse surpassed 50,000 last year, representing an increase of about 40% since 2019.
Peadar Toibín, a member of the Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament), was one of the few Irish lawmakers who, in his reaction to the Garda’s figures, highlighted the increasingly dangerous situation that women in Ireland face, writing in a statement: “This is a disaster for tens of thousands of people, mostly women.”
In a Twitter post to Aontú’s official page, the figures showing the rise in domestic violence were cited. Toibín said that Ireland is becoming an increasingly violent place, “especially for women,” and added: “Society and the Government are failing victims and survivors of domestic violence.”
Hermann Kelly, president of the Irish Freedom Party, commented on the statistics to The European Conservative by saying,
We should be sickened but not surprised by the sharp increase in serious crime in general but particularly rape and sexual assault. Ireland is not an outlier but follows the Western European pattern of increased immigration from foreign cultures leading to a ballooning in number of murders, rapes and sexual assaults on vulnerable young women.
The protection, safety and prosperity of the Irish people is the sacred duty of the Government. We need to deport all those who … present a danger to our society or a burden on the taxpayer. Ireland has been colonised before, and we certainly don’t consent to a second colonisation.
The crime statistics, which are provisional and subject to change, were released in response to a parliamentary inquiry.
