Cork whistleblower says An Garda Síochána is "a misogynistic boys' club"

Internal complaints made by female members of An Garda Síochána rose by 50% throughout 2025, a figure described by garda whistleblower Majella Moynihan as “a very sad reflection” of modern Ireland.

Nationally, data shows that between January and December last year, there were 27 complaints made by female members, and eight complaints made by male members, across the three categories of bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment.

This represents an increase of 50% on the number of complaints made by female members in 2024, when the figure stood at 18.

In contrast, the number of complaints made by male members decreased by 11% in 2025, falling from nine in 2024 to eight last year.

The figures were provided to The Echo by An Garda Síochána following a Freedom of Information request.

Looking at the gap between complaints made by male and female members across both years, there were nine more complaints made by women in 2024, accounting for 66.7% of all complaints made, and 19 more made by women in 2025, accounting for 77.1% of all complaints made.

Last year, there were 19 complaints made by female members under the category of bullying, two complaints made under the category of harassment, and six complaints made under the category of sexual harassment.

There were additionally seven complaints made by male members under the category of bullying, one complaint made under the category of harassment, and no complaints made under the category of sexual harassment.

Speaking to The Echo, Cork woman Majella Moynihan, who co-wrote the hard-hitting book, A Guarded Life, which detailed her experience working in An Garda Síochána during the 1980s and ’90s, said it “saddens” her to see that bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment are still prevalent within the force.

During her time working at Store Street Garda Station in Dublin, the Banteer native fell pregnant, and was subsequently charged with two counts of misconduct under garda discipline regulations: one for having pre-marital sex and one for giving birth outside of wedlock.

While Ms Moynihan, who was 22 years old at the time, was threatened with dismissal and was brought before a disciplinary inquiry, where she was accused of conduct that was likely to bring “discredit to the force”, the male garda member, with whom she had a child and who ultimately deserted her, was only fined £90.

In 2019, some 21 years after Ms Moynihan opted to take early retirement, she received an apology from former garda commissioner Drew Harris, as well as the then-minister for justice, Charlie Flanagan.

“Things are still not great in An Garda Síochána, especially for women,” said Ms Moynihan.

“I’m not surprised [that complaints have risen by 50%], it’s an extremely difficult job to be a female in.

“I still, after 42 years, can’t comprehend the way I was treated — it was absolutely demeaning in every sense of the word.

“I believe that An Garda Síochána is a misogynistic boys' club; it always has been and always will be,” she added.

“That being said, it was worse in the ’80s — women in the force today are standing up for themselves, which we never did.

“Women are definitely able to come forward more now in comparison to the ’80s and ’90s, you wouldn’t have had that percentage of complaints made then — there was fear instilled in every one of us.

“I am saddened by these figures, because I can’t see anything changing in that organisation.

“I find it very hard to believe there were only 27 complaints made by women in 2025, I think those figures should be much higher.”

Further information provided by An Garda Síochána showed that all seven complaints made by male members under the bullying category in 2025 were forwarded for investigation, of which six are currently ongoing.

The one remaining complaint made by a male member under this category was not upheld following the conclusion of an investigation.

Of the 19 bullying complaints made by female members, 18 were forwarded for an investigation, of which one was deemed not bullying and harassment under garda policy, and of which five are currently ongoing.

Following the conclusion of an investigation, five of the complaints made by women under the bullying category were upheld, three were not upheld, three required mediation in lieu of an investigation, and four were withdrawn.

Under the harassment category, an investigation into the one complaint made by a male member is
currently ongoing, with the investigations into the two complaints made by female members having concluded with one being upheld and one requiring mediation in lieu of an investigation.

Under the sexual harassment category, the six complaints made by female members were all forwarded to an investigation, of which three are currently ongoing.

The remaining three complaints under the sexual harassment category were upheld following the conclusion of an investigation.

Ms Moynihan said these figures are “a very sad reflection on modern Ireland” as women are “still facing bullying, harassment, and sexual assault in the workplace”.

“I would love to say that things have changed for women in An Garda Síochána, but that’s just not the case,” said Ms Moynihan.

“It is a good thing that more are coming forward, but it still means that women are being bullied, harassed, and sexually harassed.

“It’s a dramatic figure, there is such a big difference between the number of complaints made by men and women, [and] in my opinion, the males who are being bullied and harassed are probably the ones who are standing up for the females.

“The fact that there were 19 more complaints made by women in 2025 than men, you’ll always have that gap — it’s a fierce difference, but I’m not surprised by that.

“It saddens me as an ex-member, because it’s a very sad reflection on Ireland in 2026 that we still have that amount of complaints gone in from women within the organisation,” she added.

“I can honestly tell you that — and my own female colleagues that were in Templemore with me all said it too — the best day [of our careers] was the day we left the job.

“The way women are treated in the organisation, it’s very sad — there’s something not right in An Garda Síochána.”

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána told The Echo that the figures should be seen “in the context of An Garda Síochána having 4,151 female gardaí”.

“An Garda Síochána has one of the highest percentages of female police officers in Europe,” the spokesperson said. “The majority of members of the garda senior leadership team are female, [and] the vast majority of Garda staff are female.

“An Garda Síochána has put in place a number of measures to encourage women to join the organisation and support current female personnel.

“This includes a focus in recent garda recruitment campaigns on the many roles women play in frontline policing, the establishment of a Women’s Network to support female garda personnel in their policing careers, and An Garda Síochána was the first public sector organisation to introduce a menopause guidance.

“Any increase is of concern, but in the overall context of the number of female gardaí, the increase is from 0.4% to 0.7%,” they added.

“Every complaint of bullying and harassment is taken seriously, [and] the Garda commissioner has repeatedly stated on the public record that the vast majority of gardaí act in a highly disciplined and ethical manner.

“An Garda Síochána has an anti-bullying policy in place that was agreed with all Garda associations, and all garda personnel who feel bullied or harassed are encouraged to report this under the policy so that it can be investigated and dealt with.”