Cork business community welcomes 20% rise in crime detection since increased garda presence on streets

A 20% increase in the number of crime detections in Cork city has been welcomed by local businesses, which say additional gardaí are making a difference.

Crime data for the first three months of this year, released by the CSO, shows sharp rises in categories such as disorderly conduct, possession of drugs, and theft.

At the end of November, 48 gardaí were newly allocated to Cork and began patrolling 11 high-visibility posts/beats across the city.

CSO data shows that there has been a 74% increase in detections of controlled drug offences, including possession of drugs for sale or supply and for personal use, in the first three months of 2026, compared to the first three months of 2025.

Detection of public order offences is up 35% on the same period in 2025.

Incidents recorded under the category of assaults, harassments, attempts/threats to murder, and related offences are up 27%.

There was also an increase of 110% in detections of robbery, extortion and hijacking offences, a 20% rise in burglary and related offences, and another 20% jump in theft and related offences.

Within these categories, detections of ‘robbery from the person’ is up 56%, and detections of thefts from shops are up 20.8%, with 735 incidents detected at the start of 2026 compared with 608 the previous year.

Director of the Cork Business Association (CBA) Cliona Barnes said that the increase in crime detections reflects the positive impact of the additional garda resources.

“CBA has long advocated for an increased garda presence in the city centre, and both we and our members are seeing and appreciating the difference it is making.

“With more gardaí visible on our streets, Cork city feels safer and more welcoming, giving businesses, employees, residents, and visitors greater confidence that offences are being detected and addressed.

“It is essential that this level of resourcing is maintained,” she added.

Alan Coakley, owner of Republic of Oud perfume store in Winthrop Arcade, said: “We’re a new business, we’ll be celebrating one year at the end of this month.

“When we were preparing to open, there was this doom and gloom around the city, people saying: ‘My mother wouldn’t come into town’, but now we see lots of elderly people, which means they have the confidence to come in.

“Our experience has been very positive, the gardaí are very helpful, and their presence is being felt; there’s high visibility, and I’m hearing from other retailers that it’s very much improved compared to what it was like before.”

However, public representatives in the suburbs have said the high-visibility policing in the city centre has simply pushed problems out to the suburbs.

Labour councillor Peter Horgan said that more resources were needed in Douglas, Blackrock, and the wider south-east suburbs.

He said: “People want to see more community gardaí on the streets, greater visibility around village centres, parks, and schools, and enough allocations to open Douglas and Blackrock stations on a regular basis.”