The figures, which were released last week by justice minister Michael McDowell, and which state that there have been 12 violent deaths since the start of January, fail to include the killing of brothers Glen, 10, and Andrew Keegan, 6, by their mother Mary at the family's Firhouse home in February.

The inaccurate figures claimed that there was an increase in 71% in violent deaths compared to the first quarter of 2005 - when seven people were murdered.

However, when the figures are corrected to include the Keegan children it shows that the increase in violent deaths is 100%.

The two children were killed at their home at Kilakee Walk in south Dublin on 11 February when their mother stabbed them repeatedly and then took her own life. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told the Sunday Tribune that the figures released by the minister last week are based on data supplied by the gardai.

A spokesperson for An Garda Siochana said the list of violent deaths which they work from includes 12 names to date from January to the end of March. However, as this list excludes the names of the Keegan brothers, the correct figure is actually 14.

This is not the first time that children who were killed by a parent in a murder-suicide incident have been excluded from the official number of persons recorded as victims of violent death in the state. Last year gardai failed to record the violent drowning of Wexford sisters Abby and Mikahla Grace among those killed in the 12 months to the end of 2005.

Abby, 3, and Mikahla Grace, 4, were drowned by their mother Sharon at Kaat's Strand, Wexford, 12 months ago tomorrow. Sharon Grace, 28, later took her own life.