Drop in persons in court on burglary charges

There was an almost 50% drop in the number of persons appearing before Cork City District and Circuit Courts for alleged burglary-related offences in 2025 compared to 2020. There was also a 50% decrease in the number of alleged offences being heard by the courts between the same two periods.

95 people were brought before Cork District and Circuit Courts on burglary charges between January and September last year. Between January and December 2020, 186 people appeared before the same courts.

The charges heard were for burglary, intention to commit burglary, and aggravated burglary.

Those 95 people in 2025 were alleged to have committed 130 offences, down from 180 offences allegedly committed by 117 people in 2024.

In 2020, there were 262 alleged offences.

Outside Cork city, Clonakilty District Court heard charges against twelve persons last year, while in Mallow that figure was eleven.

The figures were released to Fianna Fáil MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú as part of a Freedom of Information request.

She said the lower number of persons compared to alleged offences suggests a disproportionate number of alleged offences being committed by a small group of repeat alleged offenders.

It is understood that burglary offences are suspected to be conducted disproportionately by organised groups, and that when longer sentences are handed down to members of these groups, the volume of offences also drops.

An Garda Síochána said while they were not able to comment on specific sentencing policy, they had recorded an overall trend in the reduction of burglary offences since 2015, coinciding with the launch of Operation Thor.

“The level of residential burglary during the winter (October – March) has fallen by 75% since the commencement of Operation Thor in 2015,” said a spokesperson, who also noted that based on international research, winter time saw a much higher level of burglary offences.

They have also noted year-on-year declines in summer time burglaries, with summer 2025 seeing a 15.5% reduction compared to the same period in 2024.