Levels of crime in Navan break all previous records
A massive 33 per cent increase in crime figures for Navan has been described as “terrifying”.
Crime levels in Navan last year broke all previous records with the total number of offences at 2,074.
Central Statistics Office figures show significant jumps in particular categories of crime in Navan including robbery (+85pc); theft (+50pc); damage to property (+36pc), assaults (+28pc) and drugs (+28pc). “Terrifying is the only way you can describe the depressing crime stats for Navan,” said local Senator Shane Cassells. He asked whether “we going to wait until there are crime feuds in Navan before action is taken?”
“The time for action is now because the statistics don’t lie,” he said.
“There is no point in Ministers appointing task forces for Navan after the situation has spiralled out of control similar to what happened in Drogheda.
“The Minister for Justice has gone to the same Joint Policing Meetings in Navan as I have for the past decade and the Chief Superintendent has made the call that he needs extra resources.
“This has to be responded to because it’s quite frankly a disgrace and I am not going to let Navan go the same ways as other towns in the region.”
The Mayor of Navan Cllr Eddie Fennessy said it was “like the Wild West.”
“We don't have the resources to deal with the crime levels.
“Until we have a properly resourced garda service in Navan and the rest of the county, it will only get worse,” he warned.
Deputy Peadar Tóibín described the statistics as shocking, but not surprising.
“Many people have experience crime on our streets and many have been victims of crime. One of the heavy drivers of this increase in crime is the collapse of the number of gardai in the county.
“Meath still has the lowest number of garda per capita in the country and Ireland has the lowest number of police per capita in Europe. These figures are all the more shocking when the Minister for Justice lives in the county.”
Nationally, the number of recorded incidents of robbery, extortion and hijacking offences increased by 26 per cent or 531 to 2,601 between 2022 and 2023. Theft and related offences were up by 12per cent and nearly half (46per cent) of this was due to a growing number of incidents of theft from shops.
The number of recorded incidents of drug offences remained unchanged over the year. All other crime categories fell over the year with the highest rates of decrease being for sexual offences (-11pc), public order (-8pc) and dangerous or negligent acts (-7pc). The number of recorded crime incidents of fraud, deception and related offences fell by three per cent.