Burglaries, assaults and fraud up in Ireland over year to June

However, there were also significant decreases, with the number of homicide offences falling by a dramatic 35.5 per cent over the same period.

Offences associated with organised crime were on the rise, with burglary offences up by 8.4 per cent and fraud offences up by 5.9 per cent.

There was a 10.4 per cent increase in offences related to attempts or threats to murder, assault or harassment, while the number of sexual offences also increased by 3.3 per cent.

Offences in the broader category of “offences against Government, justice procedures and organisation of crime” increased by 5.8 per cent.

Theft and related offences were up by 1.8 per cent while robbery, extortion and hijacking offences were down by 8.9 per cent.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has made tackling burglaries a top priority for the Department of Justice and Equality.

The government’s Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill 2015 will be debated by Dáil Éireann tomorrow.

Tim O’Leary, chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association’s countryside division, has claimed that garda station closures have led to an increase in “rural crime”, particularly the theft of farm machinery and livestock.

Mr O’Leary told the Irish Examiner: “When a person sees someone acting strangely in a rural area, they need to be able to report it to someone close. If the nearest Garda station is 30 miles away, it is going to be very difficult to get a response.

“It takes a lot of planning to carry out these thefts, particularly of livestock. You cannot just rock up and steal 30 bullocks. If a local garda is regularly patrolling they will notice that suspicious activity.”