Garda resignations surge in Cork

Figures show that so far this year almost as many gardaí in Cork have resigned from the force as did in the entirety of last year.  

It comes as a Cork Garda Representative Association (GRA) member said that he is seeing members leave over court proceedings “for doing their job”.

Figures provided to The Echo on foot of a freedom of information request show that 64 Cork gardaí — one chief superintendent, three superintendents, two inspectors, nine sergeants, and 49 gardaí — have left the force in the last 18 months

Retirement was the most common reason for leaving the force — there were four compulsory retirements in 2025 and a further four this year up to June 30.

Last year, there were 16 voluntary retirements and one early retirement, while in the first half of 2026, there have been eight voluntary retirements.

Two gardaí were medically discharged last year and two so far this year.

In 2025, there were 14 resignations in total. So far this year, 13 gardaí have resigned.

Cork GRA representative Padraig Harrington told The Echo: “The same number of people have resigned so far this year as the whole of last year.

“Locally, I can’t give one exact reason, but a lot has got to do with too much oversight, members getting prosecuted for very stupid stuff. They’re having to go through two years of stress through the court process, for doing their job, and they’re all exonerated by the courts then.”

He said a lot of the cases are “alleged minor assaults”.

“If the suspect were a member of the public, I don’t think the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) would send it to court, it would be deemed as insufficient evidence.”

He said Fiosrú, formerly Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc), “are the hindsight police… they see things in black or white with no grey areas or taking overall circumstances into account”.

“They always appear to be recommending prosecution. I haven’t seen any gardaí in Cork prosecuted.”

Mr Harrington said he understood that Fiosrú do not come from a policing background, but said the DPP needs “to step up its game”.

Tara McManus, the GRA’s assistant general secretary, undertook research into why gardaí were leaving the force in 2023, when there was a high number of resignations.

Of 40 members across Ireland surveyed, 70% cited unfair treatment, discipline or threat of, or feeling bullied by management, while 37% cited stress or burnout.

Some 70% of the 40 members interviewed said that the fear of discipline affected their decision making, with some saying they were “terrified of Gsoc”.

Others cited “constant fear and anxiety”, said procedures got in the way of actual policing, and they felt they were “guilty until proven innocent”.

A Fiosrú spokesperson said: “Where Fiosrú’s investigation finds that a criminal offence may have been committed by a garda, it must send its investigation file to the Office of the DPP”, as is required in law.

The spokesperson added that it does not comment on files it sends.