MEP calls for retail crime strategy with shoplifting surging in Cork

In the West Cork garda division, shoplifting rose from 88 incidents in 2003 to 144 recorded incidents in 2024 — an increase of 64%. Picture: iStock

Shoplifting has surged in the country's second largest city, with the number of reported incidents rising by 86% in two decades, sparking calls for the publication of a new retail crime strategy.

Figures have revealed the number of recorded incidents of shoplifting in Cork City has soared from 1,440 in 2003 to 2,682 incidents last year. 

The city saw a 26.7% increase in shoplifting between 2023 and 2024 alone, according to the latest figures.

Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú is urging the Government to immediately address shoplifting by fast-tracking the retail crime strategy that was promised in the programme for government. 

The Government vowed to adopt a new strategy that would include "targeted actions" to reduce retail crime and support affected businesses, as well as updating the Public Order Acts to allow a prolific offender of retail crime to be excluded from a premises. 

There is also a commitment to tackle retail crime through the use of organised crime and proceeds of crime legislation and to examine the introduction of a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker.

A new grant scheme for anti-theft and prevention measures is also to be made available to shop owners. 

Mandatory sentences

Ms Ní Mhurchú wants mandatory prison sentences for anyone caught shoplifting on more than one occasion. 

The Fianna Fáil MEP has also called for an end to the practice of "retail defamation" — where a shop owner can be sued for defamation if they stop, with the bona fide belief, someone they thought had stolen from the premises.

Ms Ní Mhurchú said retailers have become disillusioned by the rise in shoplifting, and said "filing a report with gardaí is hardly worth it" as so many shoplifters are repeat offenders.

Outside of Cork City, the number of shoplifting incidents more than doubled in the North Cork garda division between 2003 and 2024 — rising from 207 to 474. 

In the West Cork garda division, shoplifting rose from 88 incidents in 2003 to 144 recorded incidents in 2024 — an increase of 64%.

The Central Statistics Office figures indicate a trend upwards across most counties. Some of the biggest jumps between the year 2003 and 2024 occurred in Tipperary, Wexford, Wicklow, Kildare and Limerick. 

However, in Mayo, Donegal, Waterford, Clare, and Galway garda divisions, there has been a slight drop in shoplifting between 2023 and 2024.

The issue of shoplifting was raised in the Dáil recently, with Fianna Fáil's Aisling Dempsey saying it was "a plague on small businesses and is a worrying trend, because it often precedes an increase in more serious crime".