Garda suspensions more than doubled last year, rebounding close to record levels, with a growing number of members now suspended after allegations of gender-based violence. These include coercive control, domestic violence and sexual assault or sexual misconduct cases.
The spike in new suspensions last year to 42, up from 18 in 2024, across ranks, comes after a number of high-profile court cases resulted in the conviction of gardaí for a variety of crimes, including intimate partner attacks or abuse.
Last month Garda Trevor Bolger (48) was given a three-month suspended sentence for the 2012 assault of his ex-wife, Margaret Loftus, who was also a Garda member at the time.
Data obtained by The Irish Times from the Garda shows that of the 42 new suspensions last year, 10 arose from allegations of sexual assault or sexual misconduct. This was the leading cause of new Garda suspensions in 2025, followed by alleged intoxicated driving, which resulted in nine new suspensions last year.
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Women’s Aid said Garda members, given the “unique powers” they enjoyed, needed to be held to the “highest standards”. Chief executive Sarah Benson said it was crucial there was transparency around how the Garda dealt with its personnel when accused of wrongdoing to ensure “their own members were not perpetrators”.
There also needed to be “serious consequences” for any member of the Garda who failed to declare when a barring order, or similar, had been granted by a court against them.
The “unparalleled” power gardaí have could be used to further perpetuate crimes such as coercive control. This could be done via their access to information, about victims and their reporting of crimes, or even influencing colleagues in ways that maintained their control over their victims, including their partners or former partners.
In reply to queries about increasing suspensions, Garda Headquarters said the “vast majority of gardaí act in a highly professional and ethical manner”. However, suspensions were at times required “to maintain public trust”.
“The starting point for any suspension is an allegation or detection of criminal conduct or misconduct against a member of An Garda Síochána,” it said.
It also noted that in the near six-week period since the end of last year, the number of active suspensions had fallen from 107 to 98. The number of suspensions for gender-based violence was currently one fewer when compared with the end of 2025.
Garda Headquarters encouraged anyone who believed they had “been subject to any criminal behaviour or misconduct” to report it to the Garda or Fiosrú, a Garda watchdog agency.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents more than 11,000 rank-and-file gardaí, said it could not comment on individual cases. Association general secretary Ronan Slevin said that in some instances suspending a Garda member was “the only option available” to the Garda Commissioner. However, some gardaí were suspended for years and later “vindicated”.
He believed, in appropriate cases, gardaí facing investigation could be reallocated “to duties away from the public”, rather than being suspended, pending the outcome of inquiries into them.
The number of new suspensions last year, at 42, was just short of the record levels of 2021 and 2022 when 44 Garda members were suspended in both years.
Of the 107 Garda members suspended at the end of 2025, some 18 related to suspected intoxicated driving cases.
That was followed by 16 Garda members suspended following allegations of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, with 10 such new suspensions last year. A further 11 Garda members were suspended at year end for alleged domestic violence or coercive control.
Other reasons for suspensions include 12 for alleged theft/forgery/fraud/dishonesty; nine for alleged fixed-charge notice interference; nine for corruption or criminal association; nine for assault or assault causing harm; nine for disclosure of information; and four for drug-related allegations.
