There has been a significant increase in reported fraud offences, gardaí have said, particularly in online fraud, which rose by over 130% last year.
Provisional garda crime figures showed reductions in most other serious crime categories, including robberies, thefts and sex offences.
The figures also showed that over 200 people were arrested and 250 criminal charges preferred every day in 2025.
The statistics form the basis of the official crime figures from the Central Statistics Office which are expected to be published next month.
Gardaí said they warned in 2024 that reported fraud offences would increase because of the requirement of financial institutions to report all cases of fraud.
They said that while crime has dropped in most categories in their provisional figures, there has been a major increase in cases of fraud, up 137%.
The largest increases were in deception (+273%), shopping (+183%), card (+95%), money laundering (+164%) and forgery offences (+160%).
There were also increases in accommodation fraud (+17%), account takeovers (+10%) and bogus tradesman frauds (+160%) while there were reductions in phishing, smishing (-11%), insurance fraud (-11%) and counterfeit notes and coins (+10%).
In cybercrime, almost 750 incidents of harmful communications were reported last year, up from 600 in 2024, an increase of 27%.
The distribution of grossly offensive communications was up 68%, followed by increases in people recording (+29%) and distribution intimate images (+8%).
There were also increases in arson attacks (+1%) and public order offences (+4%).
The largest reduction in any crime category was in robberies from shops and other establishments, down 23%.
There were also reductions in thefts (-22%), robberies from people (-20%), violent burglaries (-14%), robberies from homes (-16%), criminal damage (-10%) and thefts from cars and vans (-16%).
Gardaí say there was an average of fewer than 14 burglaries per day across the 26 counties last year, or fewer than one residential burglary per day per county.
There were also reductions in car and bicycle theft (-4%).
Gardaí say the reduction in property and retail crime is due to two specialist garda operations, Thor and Táirge, which target organised crime gangs specialising in burglary and retail crime.
Although there was a 12% increase in demonstrations, gardaí say violent disorder, rioting and affray offences dropped by 18%.
Rape and other sexual offences also dropped by 12%.
In relation to gangland crime, drug dealing offences were up 13%, but cases of drugs for personal use dropped by 6%, an indication, gardaí say, of their focus on suppliers as opposed to users and addicts.
Weapons offences increased by 6% but shootings were down 3%.
The number of murders and manslaughters, at 40, remained the same as 2024.
There were no gangland murders last year.
The figures also noted that assault causing harm fell by 1% compared to 2024.
The Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) seized over €126m worth of drugs and €2.8m and £0.27m Sterling in cash.
In addition, the Dublin Crime Response Team (DCRT) seized another €21m worth of drugs and almost €2.9m in cash and gold.
On the roads there were 54,000 road traffic collisions last year, almost 150 every day, an increase of 4%.
188 people lost their lives on the roads.
The number of people caught driving while intoxicated remained similar to 2024 at 8,100 drivers, while there was a 4% increase in the numbers of cars seized.
Mobile phone use while driving increased 11.5% with over 24,000 people caught, while there were also increases in driving without reasonable consideration (+25%), provisional or novice drivers on the road illegally (+11%) and people caught not wearing seatbelts (+6.5%), driving in bus lanes (+16%) in a clearway or in a disabled bay (+15%).
Gardaí carried out over 74,000 arrests last year, more than 200 people every day, as well as issuing over 500 criminal summonses and preferring over 250 criminal charges daily.
Over 6,200 adult cautions and 13,000 juvenile diversion programme referrals were processed last year in lieu of criminal charges, with 35 juveniles being referred to the programme every day.
While these figures are provisional, gardaí point to the official CSO statistics which have recorded a 7% reduction in crime from 2019 to 2024, although this includes the Covid lockdown period.
Gardaí also say the CSO statistics show that long-term trends continue to demonstrate an ongoing and sustained reduction in recorded crime and that according to the 2025 Global Peace Index, Ireland is ranked after Iceland as the second most peaceful country in the world.
