Gardaí 'learn lessons' from their overbooking of hotel rooms for 2024 Europa League final in Dublin

A recent report also found that more than 2,700 speeding offences had been cancelled on foot of technical issues with the relevant roadside cameras

The C&AG previously noted that over 40% of Garda expenditure, €248,500, on accommodation for the event had gone unused by Garda personnel. File picture

Gardaí say a massive overbooking of hotel rooms for personnel ahead of the 2024 Europa League final in Dublin "provided important organisational learning" for the force.

Commissioner Justin Kelly will on Thursday tell the Public Accounts Committee that subsequent probes of the force's handling of the match — which cost hundreds of thousands of euros in unused hotel accommodation — by consultants Mazars and Deloitte had identified "opportunities to strengthen our planning, governance, resourcing, financial management and organisational learning for major and extraordinary events".

He will add that the "majority" of recommendations stemming from those reviews have been implemented or closed off "with work continuing on the remaining recommendations".

Gardaí will be before the PAC to discuss its 2025 financial statements, with the committee set to place a particular focus on the policing of the Europa League Final and on revelations in the recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General that more than 2,700 speeding offences had been cancelled on foot of technical issues with the relevant roadside cameras.

The C&AG previously reported on the issues surrounding the May 2024 final between Italian side Atalanta and German team Bayer Leverkusen at the Aviva Stadium — noting that over 40% of Garda expenditure, €248,500 — on accommodation for the event had gone unused by Garda personnel.

Commissioner Kelly will tell the committee that the findings of the various probes into the event have "resulted in a number of changes to how major events are managed".

"We have strengthened the organisational framework governing their planning and command and introduced improved technology to support resource and duty planning," the Commissioner will say.

Changes include, where booking of accommodation at an organisational scale is required, "this will operate on an exceptional basis and subject to senior-level approval, documented justification, oversight and controls".

"We have also developed an event-costing template to strengthen financial planning for major events, while work continues to further strengthen our approach to debriefing and organisational learning," the Commissioner will say.

He is not expected to broach the more than 2,785 speeding offences being cancelled and fines refunded at a cost of €445,000 in his statement to the PAC.

In February 2025, gardaí identified issues with a camera — which lacked a valid certificate of calibration — on the N17 which had been installed two months earlier.

Refunds were issued to all drivers who had incurred funds after passing the camera, with penalty points also removed.