Gardaí paid €225m in allowances for working Sundays and night duty, figures show

A small number of officers were in receipt of other unusual allowances, including service on the Aran Islands and with Interpol.

Gardaí were paid more than €225m in allowances last year on top of basic salaries, with payments including for handling dogs, uniform grants, and service on the Aran Islands.

The largest payments were for working Sundays and night duty, with allowances worth €143.7m paid to more than 13,000 members in each category.

Payments totalling €77.9m were made in Sunday allowances to about 13,400 gardaí. That worked out at about €5,800 per person.

A further €65.8m was paid in night duty allowances to more than 13,800 officers in the force.

The average night duty payment was roughly €4,750 for each member.

More than €21.9m was paid in public holiday allowances, along with €17m in “premium payments” to officers.

A further €7.15m was shared between just over 14,700 members in an annual leave premium payment, an average of almost €490 for each officer.

There were other near-universal payments, with more than 15,000 members receiving €2.15m in boot allowances, worth about €140 per person.

A further €2.85m was paid in uniform allowances, according to data released under freedom of information laws.

Some 81 gardaí serving in the “ministerial pool” of drivers and close protection were paid €1.77m.

That worked out at nearly €22,000 for each of the officers working with Cabinet members.

About €800,000 was paid out in Gaeltacht allowances to 162 officers who served in Irish-speaking areas.

A small group of 30 gardaí received overseas allowances to the value of €633,000, or about €21,000 per head.

Other payments included €595,000 for “crime examiners”, and €478,000 for “court presenters”. 

There were immigration allowances worth €206,000 paid to 141 officers and radio allowances totalling €174,000 for 28 gardaí.

Further payments of €126,000 were made for air support, €98,000 for sub-aqua work, and €66,000 for dog-handling.

A small number of officers were in receipt of other unusual allowances, including service on the Aran Islands and with Interpol.

In an information note, An Garda Síochána said it would not provide details on how many gardaí were in receipt of those specific payments.

It said: “Due to the small number of individuals involved, releasing this information could lead to the garda members involved being easily identifiable beyond their family and friends.”