There were roughly 17 recorded residential burglaries per day in Ireland across the winter period, according to garda figures.
The figures show more than 3,000 residential burglaries between last October and March of this year – down 75% for the winter period in the ten years since the introduction of An Garda Síochána's Operation Thor.
They equate to fewer than one such burglary per county per day.
December 2024 had the lowest level of recorded home burglaries for that month over the last five years.
Additionally, March of this year saw the lowest level of recorded residential burglaries since 2021.
There were over 900 arrests and 2,000 charges in connection with incidents linked to Operation Thor, which started in October 2015.
Gardaí say residential burglary tends to be higher in winter, with international evidence traditionally suggesting that a surge in burglaries of up to 20% is likely to arise in the winter months when daylight hours are at the lowest level.
Reported decrease in burglaries 'extremely important' - Detective Chief Superintendent
Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau said the reported decrease in burglaries is "extremely important' and said while crime rates go up and down, burglary rates are now at a low rate compared to a decade ago.
He also said that while the drop might not be comfort to those who have been burgled, the decrease showed progress was being made and the drop in rates was not experienced in "other European partner countries".
Det Chief Supt Boland also said that the burglary gangs they deal with are those who specialise in that type of crime and do not typically, engage in online crime or fraud.
He said if Ireland becomes a hostile place for them, they will move elsewhere to commit their crime.
Det Boland said some of the gangs have extended their activities to other jurisdictions.
He also said there were those who committed burglaries that were not part of gangs.
He said like in every generation, there are juveniles who carry out such crimes that are not involved in "structured organised crime".
He said getting those children into the juvenile diversion scheme was a priority for them.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Det Chief Supt Boland said gardaí carry out their own analysis of official crime statistics, separate to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
"From our own analysis service, it's important at the end of each phase of Operation Thor that we're in a position to notify the general public of the crime trends that we will see, because we want to give crime prevention advice to people, but also to make sure that everyone is visible in what’s happening at any given time."
Operation Thor is a National Operation led and coordinated through the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
It focuses on five main areas, among them crime prevention and protecting communities, crime investigation, and education and awareness.
Gardaí have also advised people that there are steps they can take to help protect their home.
Among these are turning on lights, the use of timer switches or motion detectors, a home alarm, locking windows and doors, and storing keys away from windows.
Det Chief Supt Boland said: "The important thing for us strategically is to counteract these types of crimes in the long term, so a 75% decrease in residential burglaries since we started Operation Thor 10 years ago, that's an important message for us to get out there to people who can then see that there's less opportunity for burglaries."
He said he hopes to see these figures reflected in the CSO statistics.
"The manner in which statistics are recorded and reported is very, very important because under the general burglary offenses, the raw data will include aggravated burglaries and the possession of articles to be used in the commission of a burglary.
"There's a lot of proactive work that's going on within our organisation where persons are being apprehended and arrested and prosecuted for possession of articles that would have been used within a burglary."
He added that all crimes, no matter how minor, should be reported to An Garda Síochána.
"While this might seem to be something relatively minor to the individual, that phone call and that reporting might be the piece of the jigsaw that we're looking for, which could solve lots of crimes that would be connected."
