An Garda Síochána may seek legislative changes to address a “significant backlog” of more than 60,000 fraud offences reported to the force by financial institutions.The force has been dealing with a backlog in the recording of potential fraud-related crime incidents, which means the number of fraud offences being recorded in the State is likely far higher than current Central Statistics Office (CSO) data suggests.The level of fraud offences recorded by An Garda Síochána from victim reports rose by more than 21 per cent to 3,466 from 2,856 in the first quarter of 2025.This data does not include reports from banks and other financial institutions which are required to report all instances of crime to the Garda. Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis said there was a “significant backlog” of about 61,989 incidents which were reported to the force by banks.“This time last year we were at around 140,000, so it is going in the right direction,” Willis said. The issue for the force stems from mandatory reporting requirements for financial institutions, which the force said is an “outlier” in comparison to other countries which have a reporting floor.“We anticipate that we will engage in relation to maybe having a legislative change that maybe removes that obligation to report at the very lower, really lower-threshold ones,” Willis said.She said 84 per cent of instances of fraud are valued below €1,000. “We know in other jurisdictions, that reports would not be made and they certainly would not be investigated.” Some jurisdictions have limits ranging from €5,000 to €10,000, she said.The meeting heard that gardaí are in the process of creating an “automated mechanism” to enter straight on to the garda Pulse intelligence system which will prevent further additions to the backlog.The meeting heard that the Garda has done a “significant body of work” to resolve the issue, and has been “making good progress”.She said the internet and use of AI is “further enhancing the ability of organised crime” to commit fraud and highlighted a single criminal organisation that the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) has targeted.The major transnational crime gang, which is made up of more than 19,000 people globally, was involved in financial fraud.The ongoing GNECB operation has so far resulted in 782 arrests in Ireland, including 129 under “really effective” organised crime legislation.So far, 513 people have been prosecuted, including two convicted for directing organised crime and 14 convictions for participating in organised crime.Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said fraud is one of the biggest areas of concern, alongside the “absolutely shocking numbers” of assaults on women, which increased by 8 per cent in the first three months of the year.The Policing Authority also heard that recommendations from the Crowe report, an independent review of the Garda roads policing unit (RPU), have led to “really significant” changes.Kelly said there had been a “really significant restructuring” with a superintendent to run RPUs, and would move towards every division having a full-time inspector. The Policing and Community Safety Authority said this change was “really welcomed”.Gunne said the Crowe report had identified that automatic number plate recognition was not being used or was being used ineffectively.She said the number of uses of the technology had increased 33 per cent year on year to 2.6 million uses.Gunne said it was leading to more seizures for unaccompanied drivers and uninsured drivers and was helping to crack down on lifesaver offences which include speeding, driving under the influence and the use of mobile phones.The Garda Commissioner said there were concerns around the level of staffing in the reserve unit.While the number of duty gardaí is currently set to hit 15,000, the “highest number in years”, he said the “only negative” was staffing in the Garda reserves.He said there was a “considerable journey to go with reserves”, and that the Garda was working with the Department of Justice on a new plan for the reserves.He said the Garda human resources staff recruiting for the reserves were the same people attempting to increase overall uniform numbers, and said “more attention” needed to be paid to the reserves.