Rape and sexual assault cases accounted for 23, almost 68 per cent, of the 34 new cases listed yesterday at the Central Criminal Court for trial and arraignment dates.
The 23 sexual offence cases - 21 rape and one each of attempted rape and indecent assault - were from 10 counties and the 11 murder cases from six counties.
Dublin returned 13 cases - eight for sex offences and five for murder; Waterford and Galway returned two rape and one murder bills each, while Limerick and Wexford each returned one rape and one murder - totalling 10 cases.
Three rape bills were returned from Louth, two from Cork and one each from Westmeath, Roscommon, Meath and Mayo.
One murder bill each came from Wicklow and Tipperary.
Trial dates were set for 13 of the sex offence cases, six were adjourned to the next listing session, one from Louth for arraignment on November 11th and three for mention for various reasons at later dates.
Trial dates were set up to April next for eight murder cases, while three were adjourned to be dealt with at later dates.
Rape and sex offences have regularly accounted in recent years for over 70 per cent of the bills at the monthly listing sessions.
In June 2004 that rose exceptionally to just over 94 per cent when all but one of the 17 cases were for sex offences.
These 16 bills involved 11 female rapes, two male rapes, and three of sexual assault.
The waiting time for rape and murder trials has now also been dramatically reduced to several months rather than over two years previously, which Mr Justice Paul Carney, who has charge of the Central Criminal Court list, described as being "highly unsatisfactory".
Cases which have been allotted "definite" dates may sometimes lose their place on the appointed day if some other trial or trials overrun their estimated duration.
This can occur when legal argument in the absence of the jury might take several days, or even weeks, before determination.
The Courts Service's annual report for 2006 recorded 58 new rape and sexual assault trials, an increase of 32 per cent compared to 44 in 2005, although only 45 per cent of the numbers in 1998/1999.
Guilty pleas were entered in 60 per cent of the 2006 rape cases, with not guilty pleas in 80 per cent of murder cases (42 out of 52) and in 40 per cent of rape cases, leading to a full hearing before a judge and jury.
Convictions resulted in 15 of the 23 (65 per cent) rape trials and eight had acquittals.
Sentences of between five and 12 years were imposed in the trial conviction cases. There were 33 new murder cases begun in 2006, a reduction of 6 per cent on the 2005 figure of 35.
Nine murder trials ended in acquittals and 39 in convictions - 17 for murder, 18 manslaughter and four for lesser offences.
The average time for a murder trial in 2006 was 8.8 days. The average time for a rape trial was 5.3 days.
Meanwhile at District Court level in 2006, the most dramatic rise in new cases was in the area of drug-related offences, where there was a 25 per cent increase on the 2005 figure.