{"id":505341,"date":"2026-06-18T02:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505341\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T02:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:49:10","slug":"councillor-calls-for-ethnicity-and-nationality-to-be-included-in-crime-stats-saying-prove-us-wrong-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505341\/","title":{"rendered":"Councillor calls for ethnicity and nationality to be included in crime stats, saying \u2018prove us wrong\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Independent Ireland<\/a> councillor, supporting a call by the Women\u2019s Coalition on Immigration for crime statistics to include the ethnicity and nationality of offenders, called for such data to be released to \u201cprove us wrong\u201d. <\/p>\n

Linda de Courcy was speaking at a briefing by the group in Leinster House entitled Immigration Governance, Public Safety & Transparency.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times previously reported on how the Women\u2019s Coalition on Immigration \u2013 in the absence of evidence of a link between migration and crime in Ireland \u2013 has sought to correlate individual incidents involving migrants with broader increases in reports of sexual violence. <\/p>\n

De Courcy, a councillor on South Dublin County Council<\/a>, was among three elected representatives who spoke at the briefing in Leinster House.<\/p>\n

Independent Ireland Cork North Central TD Ken O\u2019Flynn<\/a> spoke of his plans to introduce proposed legislation in the D\u00e1il this autumn to provide for the recording and reporting of nationality and immigration<\/a> status in crime statistics.<\/p>\n

He said when the State \u201cfails to collect and publish information\u201d, it \u201cleads to rumours and it leads to fear\u201d. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Flynn said such data is collected in Demark and Sweden, among other European countries.<\/p>\n

Independent Senator Sharon Keogan<\/a> raised concern over immigration across the \u201copen border\u201d with Northern Ireland<\/a> and suggested the issue needed to be addressed on an \u201call-Ireland basis\u201d. <\/p>\n

Keogan said there were many people who had come to Ireland who had \u201ccontributed greatly to our economy, and we welcome those people with open arms\u201d. \u201cWe don\u2019t want anybody to be targeted as a result of what we\u2019re proposing here today,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want a fair and just migration policy.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0The fringe women\u2019s anti-immigration group supported by three elected politiciansOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Tipperary Independent TD Mattie McGrath was the only other elected representative who attended the briefing, which was sparsely attended. <\/p>\n

On the attendance levels, Women\u2019s Coalition on Immigration founder, barrister Laoise de Br\u00fan, said it was a busy time of the year in Leinster House before the summer recess. <\/p>\n

During her contribution, De Courcy said: \u201cWe want to know the ethnicity of people who are committing violent and sexual crimes. That\u2019s all we\u2019re asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cRelease the data and prove us wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Courcy was asked if that comment was not a tacit admission that those linking immigration and crime had no evidence of an increased prevalence of crime among the immigrant community.<\/p>\n

In response, she accused the Government of refusing to release the data. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018There is fear in my home\u2019: Up to 2,000 attend anti-racism march in DublinOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Research linking immigration and crime can be complex. In Sweden, the gap between the crime rates of immigrants and native people narrows when adjustments are made for socio-economic factors. In Denmark, a 2020 review of research linking immigration and crime warned that results differed depending on the data collected, and a 2025 study noted that public perceptions of immigrant crime rates were higher than the reality.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times asked the Department of Justice<\/a> why data on nationality and ethnicity was not included in crime statistics and if there were plans to do so. <\/p>\n

In response, a department statement referred to a project aimed at improving the collection and strength of data that would include information on, but would not be limited to, ethnicity.<\/p>\n

It said the Central Statistics Office was \u201cfully independent in its role of publishing statistics\u201d.<\/p>\n

Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan was \u201ccommitted to improving the collection and strength of data produced by those bodies operating under his remit\u201d and \u201ca unique identifier is being introduced to improve data accuracy and streamlining data sharing within the criminal justice sector\u201d, it said.<\/p>\n

After a consultation process, it was decided that PPS numbers would be used for the purpose. \u201cConsideration is also being given to the best legislative vehicle to support the use of the PPSN for this purpose, and it is expected that this programme of work will accelerate during 2026,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoined-up data, in conjunction with careful anonymisation and disaggregation, will be necessary before any statistics related to ethnicity could be published.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Independent Ireland councillor, supporting a call by the Women\u2019s Coalition on Immigration for crime statistics to include…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9691,61,1629,25919,60,43,2443,13357],"class_list":["post-505341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-department-of-justice","tag-ie","tag-immigration","tag-independent-ireland","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-south-dublin-county-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}