Photo: Christopher Kirk · CC BY-SA 2.0For burglary and damage, Virginia beats 85% of Irish towns per resident
Counting from the least crime, it is 23rd of the 40 Irish towns nearest it in size. Virginia’s Safety Grade, B− (#2 of 5 in Co. Cavan), rests on incidents the Gardaí recorded in its station areas from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of Irish towns. On top of that, each year brought 5.5 violent incidents and 3.8 incidents of burglary and damage for every 1,000 residents (5.7 and 6.1 in the typical town its size).
Incidents per 1,000 residents (Census 2022) a year, 2023–2025 average, in the Garda station areas residents live in. Homicide and sexual offences aren’t published by station, so no figure here includes them.
What stands out about safety in Virginia
Garda checks weigh heavily here
Dangerous driving, drugs, road traffic and offences against justice outweigh the rest in Virginia’s station areas. They count Garda checks more than victims (a camera, a checkpoint, a festival), so they’re shown but not graded. By type ↓
Below the Irish rate
The station areas Virginia’s residents live in record 9.3 incidents of violence, burglary and damage per 1,000 residents a year (2023–2025), against 11.9 across Ireland: 22% below the national rate. Safety Grade ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Among the 40 Irish towns closest in size, Virginia ranks 23rd, counting from the least graded crime: lower than Kingscourt, Sixmilebridge and Gort, higher than Rahoon, Taylor's Hill and Ballyjamesduff. Towns its size ↓
Written from CSO’s recorded crime by Garda station (CJA11) and Census 2022. Figures are incidents the Gardaí recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Virginia’s grade
How sure: The rate comes from Garda station areas, shared out by where residents live, not from crime inside the town’s own boundary.
The grade counts assaults and harassment, kidnapping, robbery, weapons offences, burglary and damage per resident, averaged over three years, and places the town among every Irish town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more (the five city totals aren’t in it).
Its place: #2 of 5 in Co. Cavan and #106 of 320 Irish towns.
Violent crime, burglary and damage the Gardaí recorded per resident, 2023–2025, against Irish towns of 1,000 people or more.
What was recorded, by type
Public order offences and theft sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dangerous or negligent acts | not graded | 21.4 | 5.3 |
| Road and traffic offences | not graded | 11.2 | 9.3 |
| Theft | not graded | 5.5 | 11.6 |
| Assaults and harassment | Violent | 5 | 4.8 |
| Public order offences | not graded | 3.8 | 5 |
| Drug offences | not graded | 2.4 | 3.1 |
| Damage to property | Burglary & damage | 2.2 | 4.4 |
| Offences against justice | not graded | 2 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Burglary & damage | 1.6 | 1.8 |
| Other offences | not graded | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Weapons and explosives | Violent | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Robbery, extortion and hijacking | Violent | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Kidnapping | Violent | 0 | 0 |
The groups are CSO’s. Dangerous or negligent acts, drug offences, road and traffic offences and offences against justice count Garda checks more than victims; they, theft, public order and other offences are shown but not graded. Homicide and sexual offences aren’t published by station; fraud is left out.
Per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among Irish towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Set against 40 towns its size, Virginia is 23rd
| # | Town | People | Violent | Burglary & damage | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crosshaven Cork | 3,263 | 1.4 | 1.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 20 | Rahoon Galway | 3,486 | 5 | 3.8 | B |
| 21 | Taylor's Hill Galway | 3,141 | 5.2 | 3.9 | B |
| 22 | Ballyjamesduff Cavan | 2,917 | 5.6 | 3.7 | B− |
| 23 | Virginia Cavan | 3,211 | 5.5 | 3.8 | B− |
| 24 | Kingscourt Cavan | 2,955 | 5.5 | 4.4 | B− |
| 25 | Sixmilebridge Clare | 2,832 | 3.7 | 6.4 | B− |
| 26 | Gort Galway | 2,870 | 4.4 | 5.8 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 28 | Bailieborough Cavan | 2,974 | 7 | 6.2 | C |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Limerick City Centre Limerick | 3,434 | 11.2 | 12.9 | D |
The 40 Irish towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500+ people closest in population; the city totals are left out. Graded crime: violent crime, burglary and damage.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, 2023 to 2025, counting from the least: towns ranked near Virginia, and others in Co. Cavan.
Roughly 5 recorded violent incidents a year per 1,000 people
Violence per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025
Burglary & damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 4 burglaries or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 thefts, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded incident.
What was recorded in Virginia, year by year
Violent · per 1,000 residents
Burglary & damage · per 1,000 residents
Its highest year was 2020, at 12.9 per 1,000 residents, and its lowest 2022, at 6.2. Across Ireland the same rate went from 12 in 2016 to 11.6 in 2025. At about 30 graded incidents a year, a few cases move these figures a long way.
Every year as a table
| Year | Violent | Burglary & damage | Graded | Ireland | All recorded crime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5.6 | 2.8 | 8.3 | 11.6 | 51.4 |
| 2024 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 8.9 | 12.1 | 50.3 |
| 2023 | 6.7 | 4 | 10.7 | 11.9 | 66.1 |
| 2022 | 3.7 | 2.5 | 6.2 | 11.6 | 49.2 |
| 2021 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 9 | 10.2 | 51.2 |
| 2020 | 7.5 | 5.4 | 12.9 | 10.6 | 45.5 |
| 2019 | 2.9 | 4.4 | 7.4 | 12.8 | 48.9 |
| 2018 | 4.4 | 5.7 | 10.1 | 12.4 | 53.5 |
| 2017 | 2.2 | 6.9 | 9.2 | 12.8 | 53.7 |
| 2016 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 6.5 | 12 | 48.8 |
CSO CJA11, recorded crime incidents by Garda station, 2016–2025, shared to the town by where its residents live. Every year is divided by the residents counted in 2022, so the line moves with recorded crime, not with population. CSO publishes recorded crime “under reservation”, its flag on the quality of Garda recording.
Violence, burglary and damage the Gardaí recorded each year in the station areas where Virginia’s residents live, per 1,000 residents, against Ireland as a whole.
Crime in the places around Virginia
| Town | People | Violent | Burglary & damage | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 3,211 | 5.5 | 3.8 | B− |
| Ballyjamesduff | 2,917 | 5.6 | 3.7 | B− |
| Oldcastle | 1,409 | 3.2 | 4.5 | B+ |
| Mullagh | 1,651 | 3.1 | 2.6 | A |
| Bailieborough | 2,974 | 7 | 6.2 | C |
| Kells | 6,608 | 4.8 | 5 | B− |
Virginia records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 5 neighbours; only Bailieborough and Kells record more. Ballyjamesduff, 8.5 km away, records 5.6 recorded violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Virginia’s 5.5.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three-year average. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Station areas, not the town’s boundary. Crime is published by Garda station. Each station’s incidents are divided by the people living in its area (Census 2022), and Virginia takes the rates of the areas its residents live in, weighted by how many live in each.
- Checks are shown, not graded. Road traffic, dangerous driving, drug and justice offences mostly record Garda activity: one rural station can book thousands of camera detections. The grade leaves them out, with theft and public order, and counts violence, burglary and damage.
- Each year, and one average. CSO publishes crime by station once a year. The chart follows every year since 2016; the grade averages 2023, 2024 and 2025, because a small station area’s count swings from year to year. There are no months.
- No streets. No street- or ward-level crime is published in Ireland: the finest grain is the Garda station area.
Questions about safety in Virginia
Is Virginia safe?
The Gardaí recorded about 5.5 violent incidents and 3.8 burglaries or acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year in the station areas Virginia’s residents live in, averaged over 2023–2025. That earns a B− for safety: close to the middle of Irish towns.
What is the most common crime in Virginia?
Dangerous or negligent acts: about 69 a year (2023–2025 average). Next came road and traffic offences (36) and theft (17). That is mostly Garda enforcement (road checks and the like), not crime against residents, and it isn’t graded.
Is crime going up in Virginia?
The recorded rate in the graded categories rose 28% from 2016 to 2025: 6.5 per 1,000 residents in 2016, 8.3 in 2025. In a town this size a few dozen cases move the figure, so the grade uses the three-year average.
How does Virginia compare with Ireland as a whole?
The station areas Virginia’s residents live in record 9.3 incidents of violence, burglary and damage per 1,000 residents a year (2023–2025). Across Ireland the figure is 11.9.
Is Virginia safer than the towns around it?
3 of the 5 neighbouring towns with figures record less violence, burglary and damage per resident than Virginia (9.3 per 1,000 a year). The lowest is Mullagh, at 5.7.
How sure is Virginia’s Safety Grade?
The rate comes from Garda station areas, shared out by where residents live, not from crime inside the town’s own boundary.
Source: CSO, Recorded crime incidents by Garda station (CJA11), 2023–2025, and Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: CSO, Recorded crime incidents by Garda station (CJA11), 2023–2025 · CSO, Census 2022 Small Areas and the 2011 Garda sub-districts · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).