Concern over safety in Cork city as Anglesea St garda numbers drop

Garda numbers fell from 1,304 in December 2023 to 1,282 at the start of this year, with a Cork TD saying the reduction is making the city centre less safe.

Figures published by the Department of Justice show that between December 2023 and January 2025, the Cork city Garda force lost 33 staff.

28 of these were in Anglesea St, the city’s biggest station, which marked the second highest loss of staff in Ireland, while Bridewell, Blarney, Glanmire, Mayfield and Watercourse Road also lost staff.

Anglesea retained its 1 assistant commissioner, 1 chief superintendent and 3 superintendents, but the level of inspectors fell from 12 to 11, sergeants fell from 38 to 36 and general gardaí dropped from 218 to 193.

Overall, seven Cork city Garda stations lost staff, six saw staff numbers remain the same and five gained either one or two staff members, with no stations gaining more than two staff.

There were 699 staff across the 18 Cork city Garda stations in December 2023, but this dropped to 673 in December 2024, then reduced further in a month and was 666 in January 2025.

Across Cork city and county, there were 9 Garda stations with no staff, 20 with one staff member and 10 with two as of January 2025.

In Cork city, there is one Garda station with no staff, Mallow Road, while one station (Carrignavar) has one staff member and two (Passage West and Crosshaven) have two.

Small stations are more common in Cork county. Of 56 total Garda stations, 30 in Cork county have 5 or less staff, with 19 of these having just one staff member.

Cork County saw its overall Garda numbers increase from 605 in December 2023 to 609 in December 2024 and 616 in January 2025, this included sergeant figures rising from 91 to 100 and general Gardaí increasing from 488 to 492, though the number of inspectors fell from 20 to 18.

Staffing levels remained static in 38 county stations, fell in eight and rose in ten – of these, Mallow station reported an increase of five, Midleton four and Dunmanway four, while the remainder got either one or two extra staff.

Nationally, 23% of stations saw a reduction, 57% had no change and 20% saw figures increase.

These numbers compare to 39% and14% seeing numbers falling, 33% and 68% having no change and 28% and 18% seeing them increase in Cork city and county respectively.

Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said that more gardaí were needed in the city: “The drop in Gardaí in Anglesea St and Cork city in general is really, really worrying.

“It flies in the face of public reps, business leaders and the community as a whole constantly raising concern about Garda presence in the city centre.

“We all want Cork city to be a place people feel safe in, can go and socialize, work and enjoy but the reality is the Garda presence is not enough.

“We’ve had a number of very serious incidents in Cork city in the last while, in terms of arson attacks, serious assaults, public order incidents. The greatest deterrent to crime is an adequate garda presence and we simply do not have that, response times are nowhere near where they should be even though we have brilliant Gardaí on the ground who are doing everything they can.

“We need to reverse this trend in terms of recruitment and retention nationally, and we need to ensure civilian posts are put in place to release Gardaí from behind the desk.” 

The Echo contacted An Garda Síochána for comment.