Crimes against property remained stable during the past five years, according to the CSO.
Almost one house in every 30 was burgled during 2003, a similar number to 1998. The highest rates were in Dublin, where almost one house in 20 was burgled. This crime was much less likely in the west, the south-west and the Border areas, where the rate was less than one in 50.
More than half of all burglaries occurred while someone was at home and 5.7 per cent involved the threat or use of a weapon. In just one in a hundred burglaries while someone was in the house did an injury occur.
More than a third of the break- ins involved no loss to the household, while in more than half of the remainder, the loss entailed less than €635. Vandalism was the most common crime reported, with almost one in 20 households reporting an incident. The figure did not change between 1998 and 2003. The figures show it tends to be a recurring problem in certain areas, with one-third of vandalised households reporting another similar incident in the previous year. Over half the incidents described related to damage to vehicles. Dublin saw more vandalism than other regions, with almost 8 per cent of all households in the capital experiencing it. It was four times less likely to occur in the midlands.
Car theft was also more prevalent in Dublin, with 2.2 per cent of all households experiencing it during 2003. This was double the rate of any other region. More than two-thirds of the stolen vehicles were recovered.
Thefts from cars were more common, with 3.5 per cent of all households experiencing this crime. This rose to 6 per cent in Dublin, but affected only 1.3 per cent of residents of the midlands.
Bicycles were far more likely than cars to be stolen and students were particularly vulnerable. Thus while 4 per cent of all households with a bicycle had it stolen in 2003, this rose to 13 per cent of households containing a student cyclist. The proportion of households with monitored alarms, unmonitored alarms, special locks and high fences all increased between 1998 and 2003.
There was a wide variation in the effectiveness of these measures, as measured by the proportion of burglaries which occurred while they were in place. Only 10 per cent of all burglaries took place in houses with a monitored alarm with 28.7 per cent in houses with an unmonitored one.
Special locks were much less effective and compared poorly with a non-technical defence against burglary - a dog. Houses with dogs made up only 29.6 per cent of those burgled.
There was an increase in the proportion of people who considered crime to be a serious or very serious problem, from 76 per cent in 1998 to 80 per cent in 2003, but 94 per cent of those surveyed said they felt safe in their homes after dark, a drop of less than 1 per cent on 1998. Those who felt most vulnerable were females over 65, with almost 14 per cent feeling unsafe.