Overtime boosts garda pay to almost €67,000 a year

GARDAÍ are earning an average of almost €67,000 a year — €15,000 of it overtime — according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

The average weekly pay for a garda before overtime in December 2006 was €1,000. When overtime was added that rose to €1,286, an annual salary of €66,872. That is more than double the average industrial wage, which in December 2006 stood at €32,432.

The CSO figures released yesterday showed the average public sector wage, excluding the health sector, stood at €46,728. After the gardaí, the next highest average earning public sector employees were prison officers whose average earnings were €59,962.