Rise in drink and drug driving arrests prompts call for increased garda presence on Cork roads  

There has been a call to strengthen the Garda roads policing unit, with the number of drink and drug-driving arrests in Cork set to remain stubbornly high this year.

Overall, such arrests have been increasing for years, with 823 total arrests in 2021 in Cork for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, followed by 854 in 2022, 876 in 2023, and 956 in 2024.

There have already been 744 arrests up to the end of October this year, new figures have shown. 

This equates to an average of 74.4 arrests per month before the busy Christmas social season, compared to an average of 79.7 per month for all of 2024.

Decrease 

The results come as Garda figures show a decrease in the strength of the roads policing unit over the last number of years.

In Cork city, there were 51 gardaí assigned to road policing in 2009, the first year for which data is available. This fell to 35 in 2021 and then decreased slightly each year to 25 in September of this year, the latest date for which data is available.

In Cork county, the figures fell from 68 in 2009 to 45 in 2021, then reduced further to a low of 41 in July of this year, though the figure rose slightly again to 45 by September of this year.

Labour Party councillor and chairman of Cork City Council’s transport strategic policy committee, Peter Horgan, told The Echo that he commends “the work of our frontline roads-policing units for what they are doing in catching reckless driving behaviour”.

“This underscores the need for more allocations to the unit in Cork city and especially for a specialised unit for the N40 from the tunnel.

“The message that should land with people this Christmas season is never, ever drink and drive.

“If that hasn’t landed yet, we have a serious societal problem, and arrests going up show that you will get caught. The education piece has been done to death; more frontline support for our gardaí is key.”

Arrests 

Overall, there have been 2,792 arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol and 1,461 for driving under the influence of drugs in Cork since 2021.

Data provided by the Department of Justice shows that in Cork city, there were 1,180 arrests for drink-driving from the start of 2021 to October this year, including 244 in 2024 and 201 in the first 10 months of 2025.

There were 434 arrests for drug-driving in Cork city in the five-year period, with 130 of these in 2024 and 93 in 2025, up to the end of October.

In Cork county, there have been 1,612 drink-driving arrests in this time, with 373 in 2024 and 290 in the first 10 months of 2025.

There have also been 1,027 arrests for driving under the influence of drugs since 2021 in the county, including 209 last year and 160 this year, up to the end of October.