Domestic abuse calls in Cork up by 44% since 2020

The number of domestic abuse calls in Cork has risen by 44% since 2020, with a total of 26,231 calls recorded in the last five years, new Garda data shows.

Across Cork city and county, calls rose from 3,932 in 2020 to 5,664 in 2024 (the latest year for which there are complete figures), an increase of 44%. Nationally there was a similar increase, from 44,782 calls in 2020 to 65,224 in 2024.

Domestic abuse calls include the breach of a barring order, emergency barring order, safety order, protection order, or interim barring order, as well as any other incident type that has a recorded ‘domestic abuse’ motive.

In Cork city, there have been a total of 15,207 domestic violence calls since 2020. There were 2,333 calls in 2020, 2,345 in 2021, 2,790 in 2022, 3,100 in 2023, 3,254 in 2024, and 1,385 in 2025 to June 3. The figures for 2025 show a monthly average of 277 calls, which, if continued, would see calls rising to 3,324 this year. The monthly average was 194 in 2020, meaning there has been a 43% rise in five years in the city.

In Cork county, 11,024 people called about domestic abuse in the last five years; 1,599 in 2020, 1,799 in 2021, 1,982 in 2022, 2,260 in 2023, 2,411 in 2024, and 973 in 2025 so far. The monthly average increased from 133 in 2020 to 194 this year.

Releasing the figures in the Dáil recently, justice minister Jim O’Callaghan said the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV), set out “an ambitious five-year programme of reform to achieve a society which does not accept DSGBV or the attitudes which underpin these crimes”.

He said: “The nationwide rollout of divisional protective service units [DPSUs] ensures that when victims of crimes such as domestic abuse and sexual violence present to gardaí, they are met with a consistently high standard of specialist, sensitive, professional, and expert assistance. There is a DPSU in every Garda division.

“While this data demonstrates a steady increase in the reports to An Garda Síochána year-on-year, and any increase in reports of domestic violence is deeply concerning, there has been significant work undertaken to support victims of DSGBV to come forward and report these matters.”

He said the strategy aims “to encourage victims of domestic and sexual violence to come forward and report the heinous crimes being committed against them” in order to address “the historical and significant under-reporting of such crimes”.

The Echo revealed this year that the average arrest rate for all domestic-motivated crimes in 2022, the latest data available, was 33% nationally, but Cork was below this national average at 31% in Cork city, 30% in Cork North, and 21% in West Cork, the lowest percentage in Ireland.