Gardaí out of action for 60,000 days due to injuries sustained while on duty

The number of days that gardaí have been unable to work due to illness or injury has been rising in recent years. File photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Gardaí have been unable to provide more than 60,000 days of service to the public this year due to injuries sustained while on the beat.

They include 12 officers assaulted during the violent riots that brought chaos to the streets of Dublin last month. One of those officers need to have a toe amputated.

Even before that night, 58,692 days were lost to injury in the line of duty up to the end of October, according to figures provided by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. That was on top of 161,509 days lost to ordinary illness.

The number of days that gardaí have been unable to work due to illness or injury has been rising in recent years. In the same time period in 2022, 150,478 days were lost to illness and 55,413 to injuries sustained in the line of duty.

The Government and gardaí have been under pressure to ensure visible frontline policing. However, figures released by Justice Minister Helen McEntee to Sinn Féin’s Justice spokesperson Pa Daly show that the average monthly number of ordinary illness and injury on duty absences is 1,962 and 216 respectively for the third quarter of this year. 

This compares to 1,680 and 189 for the same period in 2020, and 1,743 and 172 in 2019. Mr Daly claimed the numbers are rising because gardaí “feel overstretched, burnt out and that no one has their back”.

He also claimed gardaí are expected to take on more stressful work and this is impacting their wellness — 11 gardaí were absent due to mental health issues in October, accounting for 225 days of absence.

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“The numbers do not simply reflect the pay and conditions because...there are increased stresses resulting from having to deal with things like serious road traffic accidents, people having taken their own lives and other types of stressful scenes.” 

A Garda spokesperson said that while absences had risen in October compared to September, they were down on the same month last year.

“During covid-19 ordinary illness fell (-11.41%) compared to pre covid-19, while injury on duty increased (+10.47%). Absences due to covid-19 were/are not recorded as ordinary illness.

“While there is a short-term increase in sick days month on month (Sept 23/Oct 23), there is a reduction in sick days absent year on year Oct 2022 v Oct 2023 (-3%). Ordinary illness is showing an increase again, in line with what is observed in the general population and the winter period."