CSO: Data not given as it had not been published

The decision taken not to share crime statistics with attendees of a local community safety partnership (LCSP) meeting in City Hall was likely made because the data had not been published by the Central Statistics Office when the meeting took place.

During the meeting, Garda Superintendent John Deasy presented data showing trends in crime in Cork city and county. However, when asked by Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould if he could be provided with a copy of the statistics, the garda said the data could not be circulated.

He explained because the forum was established on a “statutory footing” it was restricted as to what data could be circulated.

A spokesperson for the CSO clarified they were not aware of any statutory restrictions against publishing data.

They said they “were sure that the garda member involved was respecting the fact that the official statistics were not yet published for Q4 2026 and did not want to be circulating data in advance of that”.

The CSO has confirmed crime statistics for 2025 have been published for the first three quarters of the year, and said it plans to publish the final quarter’s data, along with an analysis of the full year’s data in March 2026.

The decision not to share data was criticised by a number of public representatives and media personnel present, with one asking “why are we even here if we can’t report on the data being presented?”

Cllr Terry Shannon, who chaired the meeting, supported the Supt Deasy’s position, saying that as the LCSP was new, there would be “teething problems”.

The circulation of data in printed form was common practice at the joint policing committees (JPCs), which the LCSPs replaced in 2024.

It was unclear during the LCSP meeting whether the data was publicly available via the CSO.

An Garda Síochána has been contacted for comment, but had not responded at time of printing.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.