I would like the Taoiseach to address the central issue here, which is that we do not have reliable crime statistics in this State. For the Taoiseach to welcome the publication of statistics that the CSO, our independent statistics office, cannot stand over is quite worrying. An officer of the CSO said on national radio this morning that they were the best available statistics, but are certainly subject to further amendment and change. How can we have what the Taoiseach says the country needs, accurate and comparable statistics? Patently we have not. What is he going to do to ensure not only that the homicide figures are accurate, but that all statistics produced about crime in this country are absolutely accurate? What measures will he take to ensure that whatever failings have occurred to deny us that accuracy will be brought to light?

In the first instance, it is worth pointing out that for the last few quarters the CSO would not publish crime statistics. It is an independent agency and it rightly upholds statistical standards. It did not publish them for several quarters because it did not feel it could do so, given the quality of those statistics. The CSO is now in a position to produce statistics under a new category called "under reservation". This is a classification that is in keeping with other jurisdictions and statistical domains. It serves to indicate to users that the quality of these statistics does not meet standards required of official statistics published by the CSO. The best thing we can do is to make sure that in future statistics are accurate. I am not sure it is possible to correct statistics that were wrong in the past. Things that were not measured in the past cannot be measured retrospectively. For us to make sure that the Garda has adequate resources, adequate training and adequate ICT, but also the adequate culture, standards, management and expectations, I think it is essential that these numbers are collected correctly in future.