THERE have been 284 arrests for driving under the influence in Cork City and county for the opening months of this year.

The figures were released at a recent meeting of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) attended by gardaí, public representatives, and council executives.

At the meeting, Chief Superintendent Con Cadogan detailed figures relating to the period from January 1 to May 9, 2022, and for the same timeframe in 2021.

There were 96 incidents of driving while intoxicated in the city between January and May 9, 2022.

This is an increase of 30 from the same period in 2021, when there were 66 arrests for drink driving in Cork City.

In the Cork North division, there have been so far 114 arrests this year, which is an increase from 64 for the same time frame in 2021.

In the Cork West division, there were 74 incidents of driving under the influence from January 1 to May 9, compared with 53 for the same period last year.

Drug driving

In relation to drug driving, there were 67 such incidents in Cork North this year from January 1 to May 9, compared to 48 for the same period last year.

In Cork West, there have been 39 drug driving arrests in 2022, a decrease of eight on the same period last year.

There were no figures released for drug driving incidents in Cork City.

Drug possession

The meeting also heard that there has been a decrease in cases of possession of drugs for sale or supply in Cork City, Cork North division and the Cork West division for the first four months of this year.

Between January and April 2021, there were 209 people arrested for dealing. For the same period across all the three Garda divisions in 2022, that figure is 142.

There has also been a substantial drop in the number of arrests in Cork City, Cork North and the Cork West division for possession of drugs for personal use for the first four months of this year.

There has been a total of 501 arrests for possession of drugs for personal use across the three Garda divisions this year, compared to 845 arrests over the same time frame last year across the three Garda divisions.

In Cork City, possession of drugs for personal use in 2022 saw 284 detections and, in 2021, there were 525.

In Cork North, there were 154 incidents of possession of drugs for sale or supply this year, from January to April 2022 and over the same time frame in 2021, there were 226.

In Cork West, there were 63 incidents of possession of drugs for sale or supply up to the end of April and over the same time frame in 2021, there were 94.