Louth sees jump in number of drink driving offences

There was a 36.8% 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 to June 2022 compared to the previous 12 months, according to figures released this week by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In the CSO release, Recorded Crime Q2 2022, it was revealed that in the 12 months to June 2022, 197 offences were recorded, up from 144 the year before. In the first half of this year, 102 offences were recorded, 62 of them taking place in the second quarter of this year.

The CSO figures also show a fall in the number of driving/in charge of a vehicle under the influence of drugs offences. 60 offences were recorded in the Louth Garda Division in the year to June 2022, compared to 84 the previous year, representing a fall of 28.6%. The number of offences recorded in the first half of this year however, increased on the previous six months, with 42 recorded in the first half of 2022, and just 18 in the previous six months.

Recorded Crime statistics continue to be categorised by the CSO as Statistics Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by the CSO. For more information on this see https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/crime/statisticsunderreservationfaqs/.