Louth sees large increase in number of drink driving offences

There was a large increase in the number of driving/in charge of a vehicle while over legal alcohol limit offences recorded in the Louth Garda Division in the year leading up to the second quarter (Q2) of 2022, compared with the previous 12 months, according to figures released this week by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

197 offences were recorded in the year up to Q2 2022, compared with 144 the previous year, representing an increase 36.8% in the number of offences recorded.

The 62 offences in Q2 of this year alone shows an increase of over 50% on the first quarter of 2022.

There had been a fall however, in the number of driving/in charge of a vehicle under the influence of drugs offences during the the year to Q2 2022 in the Louth Garda Division. 60 offences were recorded in the 12 months to Q2 2022, compared to 84 a year earlier, representing a fall of 28.6%.

It is important to note that these statistics are categorised as Under Reservation by the CSO. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by the CSO. 

The classification statistics Under Reservation has been applied to reflect the fact that there are data quality issues in the underlying sources used to compile these statistics. This approach of differentiating statistics based on quality concerns associated with the underlying data is consistent with other jurisdictions such as England and Wales. 

In the case of Recorded Crime statistics, the new classification will actively alert users to the underlying quality deficiencies and inform them that further revisions can be expected as these deficiencies are resolved.  

The decision to publish using the statistics Under Reservation category reflects concerns the CSO has around the completeness and accuracy of PULSE data. Data published under this category will provide users with the best information available while clearly identifying the quality issues and flagging where revisions are likely.