Carlow burglaries drop 66% 

THERE has been a remarkable 66% drop in reported burglaries across Carlow over the past decade, according to newly-released figures from the Central Statistics Office.

When comparing freshly-published crime data from 2024 to CSO figures dating back a decade, it can be seen that 408 burglary incidents were reported to garda stations in Carlow (most of which were reported in Carlow town) in 2014 in comparison to only 137 reported burglaries in 2024. Data gathered from the nine garda stations across the county (Ballon, Borris, Carlow, Graignamanagh, Hacketstown, Bagenalstown, Myshall, Rathvilly and Tullow) also indicate public offence orders (intoxicated or disorderly in a public place) are down substantially, dropping by nearly 50% since 2014.

In contrast, reports of attempts or threats to murder, assaults and harassments grew by more than 44% over the same period, from 184 in 2014 to 266 in 2024. A variety of factors – ranging from substance abuse to increased willingness to report abuse – could help to explain the upward trend in violent or threatening behaviour. The data further indicates a moderate rise in theft incidents over the decade (up about 2% from 2014). 

While the increase is comparatively small, theft continues to rank as one of the county’s highest-volume offences.

Cases of kidnapping remain rare. This is the crime category with the fewest number of reports: two in 2024 and none in 2023. Second to this is ‘robbery, extortion, hijacking offences’ with 16 reported cases in 2024 and 15 in 2023.

Other categories such as controlled drug offences show more complex patterns. Drug-related incidents fell in recent years, dropping from 214 in 2023 to 139 in 2024; however, the current total remains slightly lower than the 2014 level of 177.

Another area drawing attention is offences against government, justice procedures and organised crime, which has surged by 74% since 2014. This rise may reflect enforcement efforts targeting organised criminal networks as well as stricter policing of bail or court-order violations.

Commenting on crime statistics across the entire country, Jim Dalton, statistician in the Crime and Criminal Justice section of the CSO, said: “Recorded crime statistics published for October, November, and December 2024 and the full year 2024 showed that recorded crime incidents involving homicide and related offences were down 13% in when compared with 2023, as were those involving robbery, extortion and hijacking offences (down 10%) and controlled drug offences (down 7%)”.

“In contrast, there were increases in crime incidents for some offence groups such as sexual offences (up 8%), weapons and explosives offences (up 5%) and public order and other social code offences (up 5%),” he added.