About 270 gardaí off duty every day last year due to injuries suffered at work, new figures show

New figures show a sharp rise in the number of gardaí missing work due to accidents, road traffic crashes, and assaults.

About 270 gardaí were off duty every day last year because of accidents, road traffic crashes, and assaults suffered while on the job.

New figures show a sharp rise in the number of gardaí missing work due to injuries suffered at work.

Overall, members of An Garda Síochána took almost 270,000 sick days last year — the equivalent of about 740 a day.

The number of days lost to illness rose nearly 5% compared to 2024, when the figure was just over 257,000.

There was, however, a 17% climb in sick leave taken by gardaí who suffered accidental injuries on duty.

Altogether, almost 71,000 days were lost in that category, with a further 8,129 days of illness due to road traffic incidents at work.

More than 19,000 sick days were taken as a result of malicious injuries suffered on duty, figures released under Freedom of Information show.

There were 36,500 days lost to critical illness and 38,500 days attributed to flu or other viral illnesses, including covid-19.

Mental health accounted for nearly 1,600 lost days. However, that figure was down substantially compared to 2024.

About 5,800 sick days were taken for musculoskeletal issues and 8,305 for surgery, or post-operative recovery.

An Garda Síochána also logged 1,037 days of leave for post-pregnancy and 5,063 for pregnancy-related illness or unavailability for work.

There were about 67,500 days of sickness that were categorised either as “not provided”, or “other” in the records.

Asked about the data, a Garda spokesman said while the total number of sick days had increased, much of that was attributable to injuries on duty.

“This reflects the unpredictable and dangerous nature of frontline duties undertaken by gardaí nationwide on a daily basis,” he said.

The spokesman said there had also been a notable increase in absence due to critical illness, which often involved lengthy periods of sickness for a smaller number of gardaí.

A fall in mental health-related absence was also evident, while figures for ordinary sickness tended to “fluctuate on a day-to-day basis".