Garda Commissioner defends €20m ICT overspend as ‘good value for money’

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly defended a 20 million euro budget overspend by the force (Brian Lawless/PA)

A €20m overspend on information and communications technology (ICT) is good value for money, according to the garda commissioner, who added that he would “actually like to spend more”.

Justin Kelly told the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that ICT cost An Garda Síochána €180m last year – €20m more than budgeted.

“It’s obviously a huge amount of taxpayers’ money, but I would actually like to spend more than 180m,” he said. “I have actually looked for more than that from the Government.” 

Mr Kelly was pressed a number of times by Sinn Féin TD Cathy Bennett on how such an overspend could be considered cost-effective.

“The general public wants to see guards on the street,” she said. “That’s not happening, and we hear today that we’re spending 180m yearly on ICT.

“It’s not of value for the taxpayer. You’re telling me you’re getting great value for money, but you have an overspend of 20m, I don’t consider that good value.” 

Mr Kelly said in response that ICT is fundamental to all elements of policing.

“We go through rigorous processes and procurement around our ICT,” he said. “We’ve got various governance boards around it, so I can assure you it’s good value for money.

“It’s not something sitting in the background, it’s actually connected to the front line, and this type of technology is actually the envy of many forces in Europe.

“This technology is expensive, but it’s really important that we give this to our frontline officers so that they have everything they need. I think ICT is just so intricately linked to modern policing.”

Garda budget runs over

An Garda Síochána also ran €20.4m over its overall budget last year, with Mr Kelly saying this was because of significant operational demands and new recruits.

Major security and policing operations arising from increased protest activity and the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accounted for some of the overrun, which was on top of the €2.3 billion budget allocated.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, justice minister Jim O’Callaghan defended the garda  commissioner, saying there was a huge number of extraordinary, exceptional events.

“It is not unusual for the gardaí to seek extra funding after they have taken into account the cost of the events that they have to face,” he said.

“It’s a real challenge to the garda commissioner, the number of events that are happening is an obligation to ensure that they are adequately policed.

“I think it’s been done in a highly professional way by An Garda Síochána. He’s very conscious of the need to manage and control the budget, but there will be situations where the gardaí will need extra resources because of the exceptional events that may happen next year.” 

Garda pay and numbers 

The vast majority of the overall budget, €1.59 billion, was spent on pay, Mr Kelly told the Public Accounts Committee. This increased by 4% last year with the implementation of a national pay agreement.

An increase in garda numbers also accounted for some of the extra budget, with 618 gardaí attested last year, the highest number of new recruits in seven years, bringing the total to 14,425.

At the end of 2025, An Garda Síochána had 18,405 personnel in total, with 308 garda reserves and 3,672 garda staff.

There was also major spending on new additional garda vehicles, with the fleet now the largest it has been at 3,650 vehicles – 300 of which are electric.

Mr Kelly said: “We have invested in a new aeroplane, helicopters, an armoured vehicle for emergency and armed response units, equipment for public order units, and rigid hull inflatable boats for our water unit.”

€248,500 accommodation bill 

The committee also heard An Garda Síochána spent €248,500 on accommodation for the Europa League final in 2024, which was never used.

Rooms were booked in bulk before the full accommodation requirements of garda members had been established and were not cancelled in time.

More than 250 potential overpayments of travel and subsistence claims were also identified, totalling around €35,000.

This arose from a failure to adequately cross-reference claims submitted by garda members against accommodation and meals provided and paid for.