Garda overtime budget increases 84% in four years

Gardaí say that the number of protests in the Dublin Metropolitan Region more than doubled last year from the 307 seen in 2022 to 617.

An Garda Síochána’s overtime budget for rank and file officers increased 84% between 2020 and last year, new figures show.

Last year, the force spent €132.2m on out-of-hours payments for gardaí of below sergeant level, compared with €71.7m three years before, an 84% increase.