DUBLIN, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Most of the crimes were on the rise in Ireland in the year ending the second quarter of 2018, according to the official statistics released here on Monday.

Figures from the country's national statistics bureau CSO showed that out of the 15 categories of crimes, 11 types of crimes were on the rise in terms of their numbers while only four types of crimes were on the decline.

The sharpest rise was recorded in the number of the robbery, extortion and hijacking offences, which witnessed a year-on-year increase of 15.1 percent in the period, followed by offences against government, which include breaches of bail and breaches of domestic violence orders (up 13.1 percent), and weapons and explosives offences (up 10.7 percent).

The number of sexual offences also rose significantly by 10.2 percent in the period, showed the CSO figures.

Only four types of crimes, namely kidnapping, criminal damage to property and to the environment, fraud and burglary, saw a year-on-year decrease in terms of their numbers in the period, said the CSO, adding that the sharpest drop was recorded in the number of kidnapping offences, which went down by 18.1 percent when compared with a year ago.

Theft ranked in the first place among all crimes in terms of its number in the 12 months to the end of Q2 2018, showed the CSO figures.

A total of 68,248 incidents of theft offences were reported in the period, representing a year-on-year increase of 2 percent, according to the CSO.

The crime figures which are sourced from the Irish police department are subject to revision due to concerns relating to the recording and classification of crime, said the CSO.