Ireland: Self-Reported Crime and Delinquency in Ireland

This chapter looks at the self-reported offending behaviour of school children in the Republic of Ireland. The findings are derived from the administration of international self-reported delinquency (ISRD2) questionnaire to a sample of students mostly aged 13-15 years (n = 1,570) in their first, second and third years of secondary school across a number of cities and towns. In order to accurately interpret the findings, it is important to highlight the local context and economic conditions. The Republic of Ireland's official population is 4,234,925 as measured by the 2006 census. The latest figures revealed that 28% of the population was made up of children aged 18 or younger (CSO, 2002). The Irish economy has undergone a transformation within recent years and has moved from a primary dependence on agriculture to a dependence on trade, industry and investment. Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic reversal of fortune for the Irish economy, from a situation of high levels of unemployment and emigration to a position of almost full employment (see Fahey et al., 2007). Furthermore, a considerable number of people in the Irish labour market are now foreign nationals (NESC, 2005). © 2010 Springer-Verlag New York.