Department of Justice to pay €25m for Garda deal

Half of the money needed to pay for a €50m Garda pay deal is to come from the Department of Justice, with the other half coming from other areas.

Gardaí recently accepted a Labour Court Recommendation which will see them earn an extra €3,000 from January 1.

When the deal was first announced last month, Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Paschal Donohoe refused to rule out cuts to frontline services and a freezing of USC rates to fund the pay increases.

“Any change of agreement that we have in relation to the Lansdowne Road Agreement has consequences for everything else that Government wants to do,” he said.

However, after talks with Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, it was decided taht the deal will be paid for by “burden-sharing” across Government departments.

However, Ms Fitzgerald still has to find €25m for the Justice Vote Group.

A spokesman for the Tánaiste said the department is committed to ensuring the additional budgetary cost will not impact on the provision of crucial services.

A comprehensive spending review will now be carried out across all departments to come up with other €25m.

Mr Donohoe is due to publish the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) on Thursday, which will give a further detailed breakdown of proposed allocations from the budget.

The spokeswoman confirmed that the REV includes an additional exchequer allocation of €25m to part cover the cost of the Labour Court recommendation.