IRISH people are more likely to be victims of crime than any other country in the EU — according to a new European commission study. The report, which has yet to be published — found Irish people are more at risk of assault, burglary, theft and sexual attack than most other EU states.

Ireland was singled out as the country with the overall highest victimisation rate for 10 common crimes in 2004 by the survey, which also found that common crime had “decreased significantly” in all EU states “with the possible exceptions of Belgium and Ireland”.

“The burden of crime in the EU” is based on the results of an EU International Crime Survey (EU ICS) carried out on behalf of the European Commission by respected research bodies such as Gallup and the Max Planck Institute.

About 2,000 people were surveyed on their experiences of crime in the 15 old EU member states and three new ones, Poland, Estonia and Hungary.

Ireland recorded the highest victimisation rates for crimes including burglaries, thefts and robberies and was among the five countries where the risk of being assaulted was found to be the highest.

Experiences of sexual violence were reported more often by women in Ireland than any other EU country and while the overall figures of “contact crime” were described as “comparatively low” Ireland had more than twice the average rate of robbery, nearly double that of Greece— which came second on the list.

About 60% of all robbery victims said that more than one offender was involved and money was stolen in about half of the cases.

“Ireland emerged from the EU ICS 2004 as a high crime country,” the report concluded. “Robberies especially are more common (in Ireland) than in the rest of the EU.”

Jim O’Keeffe, Fine Gael’s justice spokesman, said the report was “a damning, independent and objective assessment of the current government’s failure to adequately address crime issues”.

“This report doesn’t surprise me, but I am glad it has been carried out, because it confirms everything I have been saying for the last few years about Michael McDowell’s failure to get to grips with crime.”

Analysis of the results included in the report found a direct link between violent crime and consumption of alcohol. Ireland had the highest consumption of alcohol recorded and only Britain showed a higher prevalence of assaults and threats.

“Alcohol abuse in Europe is no longer— as in the 19th century— associated with extreme poverty and related social problems,” it said. “Alcohol-related violence is rather to be seen as one of the downsides of modern affluence.”

In league tables of both car thefts and burglary rates Ireland came third highest. Only Britain recorded higher levels in both categories, coming top in burglaries.

The report also claimed that Ireland had the highest number of households with burglar alarms, at almost three times the EU average.

Despite the high levels of theft and assault, below-EU- average levels of hate crime, consumer fraud and corruption were reported.

O’Keeffe continued: “The government’s own figures show dramatic increases in key crimes between 2000 and 2005, but the minister interprets these in his own way and tries to spin them to look positive. In reality they aren’t and this survey helps prove that.”

O’Keeffe added that headline crime was up 39% between 2000 and 2005 and that crimes like sexual assaults had increased dramatically in recent years.

He said the report, which is based on citizens’ experience and perceptions rather than government or police figures, proved a “disastrous” government record on crime.

A spokesman for the department of justice said it would need to see the report to comment on its key findings, but refuted that the government was failing to tackle crime.

“The report is not based on actual crime figures and is somewhat dated given the statistics it uses are relevant to 2004. When you look at the facts the government is meeting its objectives in crime.”

“In 1995, with a population of almost 3.6m people, there were 29 crimes per 1,000 of the population. In the most recent period for which figures are available (April 2005 - March 2006), with a population of over 4.1m, there was the equivalent of 25.03 crimes per 1,000 of the population.”

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