An Independent Ireland councillor, supporting a call by the Women’s Coalition on Immigration for crime statistics to include the ethnicity and nationality of offenders, called for such data to be released to “prove us wrong”.
Linda de Courcy was speaking at a briefing by the group in Leinster House entitled Immigration Governance, Public Safety & Transparency.
The Irish Times previously reported on how the Women’s Coalition on Immigration – in the absence of evidence of a link between migration and crime in Ireland – has sought to correlate individual incidents involving migrants with broader increases in reports of sexual violence.
De Courcy, a councillor on South Dublin County Council , was among three elected representatives who spoke at the briefing in Leinster House.
Independent Ireland Cork North Central TD Ken O’Flynn spoke of his plans to introduce proposed legislation in the Dáil this autumn to provide for the recording and reporting of nationality and immigration status in crime statistics.
He said when the State “fails to collect and publish information”, it “leads to rumours and it leads to fear”.
O’Flynn said such data is collected in Demark and Sweden, among other European countries.
Independent Senator Sharon Keogan raised concern over immigration across the “open border” with Northern Ireland and suggested the issue needed to be addressed on an “all-Ireland basis”.
Keogan said there were many people who had come to Ireland who had “contributed greatly to our economy, and we welcome those people with open arms”. “We don’t want anybody to be targeted as a result of what we’re proposing here today,” she said. “We want a fair and just migration policy.”
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Tipperary Independent TD Mattie McGrath was the only other elected representative who attended the briefing, which was sparsely attended.
On the attendance levels, Women’s Coalition on Immigration founder, barrister Laoise de Brún, said it was a busy time of the year in Leinster House before the summer recess.
During her contribution, De Courcy said: “We want to know the ethnicity of people who are committing violent and sexual crimes. That’s all we’re asking for.”
She added: “Release the data and prove us wrong.”
De Courcy was asked if that comment was not a tacit admission that those linking immigration and crime had no evidence of an increased prevalence of crime among the immigrant community.
In response, she accused the Government of refusing to release the data.
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Research linking immigration and crime can be complex. In Sweden, the gap between the crime rates of immigrants and native people narrows when adjustments are made for socio-economic factors. In Denmark, a 2020 review of research linking immigration and crime warned that results differed depending on the data collected, and a 2025 study noted that public perceptions of immigrant crime rates were higher than the reality.
The Irish Times asked the Department of Justice why data on nationality and ethnicity was not included in crime statistics and if there were plans to do so.
In response, a department statement referred to a project aimed at improving the collection and strength of data that would include information on, but would not be limited to, ethnicity.
It said the Central Statistics Office was “fully independent in its role of publishing statistics”.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan was “committed to improving the collection and strength of data produced by those bodies operating under his remit” and “a unique identifier is being introduced to improve data accuracy and streamlining data sharing within the criminal justice sector”, it said.
After a consultation process, it was decided that PPS numbers would be used for the purpose. “Consideration is also being given to the best legislative vehicle to support the use of the PPSN for this purpose, and it is expected that this programme of work will accelerate during 2026,” the statement said.
“Joined-up data, in conjunction with careful anonymisation and disaggregation, will be necessary before any statistics related to ethnicity could be published.”
Read the full article at The Irish Times →
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