| Ireland in high-risk crime level
JUST one country has a higher level of crime than Britain and
that’s Ireland.
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 co-ordinated 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 out of all the countries in the EU Ireland had the highest levels
of assaults, the highest rates of robberies and the highest risk of theft
of cars and from cars.
Ireland is also one of only three countries including Brit-
ain 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 and a very
high regard for the gardaí (fifth highest). Those who reported
crime were very happy with the way they were treated.
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.
Criminologist Prof Jan Van Dijk who conducted the survey said: “Because
this was our first year to include Ireland in the survey, we repeated
the poll twice, and got exactly the same results.”
He was not surprised that Ireland has the highest crime level because
he said it goes hand-in-hand with increasing wealth.
He said: “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.”
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