“There were 90 rapes and sexual assaults compared to 70 the previous year”

46 arson crimes were recorded compared to 37 the previous year, while offensive weapons cases numbered 14 compared to 24 in 2017.

On the drugs crime front gardaí investigated seven cultivation, manufacturing drugs cases, compared to ten the previous year.

The number of possession for sale or supply of drugs cases came to 51, compared to 58 in 2017.

Theft from the person cases numbered 15 compared to 15 in 2017 and theft from the shop rose slightly from 370 in 2017 to 372 last year.

There was a significant reduction in reported burglary offences, dropping from 453 between January and October 2017 to 327 for the same period last year.

There were five robbery from the person incidents last year recorded compared to nine in 2017.

Chief Superintendent for the Wexford Garda division Paddy McMenamin said there has been an increase in sexual assault victims coming forward and pursuing cases against their attackers.

‘We put the sexual assault figures down to more people reporting. We are looking at the positives in that more people are more confident about coming forward to report crime. Some of these crimes are historic.’

Supt McMenamin said the garda victim support unit is working with victims. ‘We are putting a lot of emphasis into victims and that is being borne out (in the statistics).’

He said gardaí are dealing with a large volume of domestic violence cases, adding that new Domestic Violence legislation will provide greater protections for victims.

He said domestic violence can take several forms from harassment to assault to breach of protection orders.