One garda made over €55,000 in overtime last year
A RANK-AND-FILE garda received €55,086 in overtime payments last year, according to new figures.
The figures, released by gardaí in response to a freedom of information (FoI) request, show three members of the force last year each received overtime payments of more than €50,000.
The top overtime earning garda was only one of two rank-and-file members in the top 10, with the remainder made up of two inspectors and six sergeants.
One inspector received €54,437 in overtime with a second inspector, the only other member to receive over €50,000 in overtime, receiving €51,696.
The top overtime earning sergeant received €49,549.
The top 10 overtime earners shared just short of €500,000 in total payments last year.
Overtime was boosted last year by policing operations for visits by US President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence.
The total spend by gardaí – including overtime payments – for the two visits last year came to €13.67m.
Operation
The spend by the State in overtime, accommodation, catering and payments to third parties amounted to €11.3m for the Trump visit last June and €2.37m for the Pence visit in September.
Underlining the scale of the security operation for the Trump visit, 3,820 gardaí received overtime payments in connection with the visit – around 27pc of the then overall strength of the Garda force of 14,251. The operation resulted in an overtime payout of €7.4m to gardaí.
The top earning garda from the Trump operation received €12,915 in overtime payments.
Garda figures show that last year €105.9m was paid out in overtime on a divisional basis with the greatest drain on Garda overtime in Dublin, where €37.4m was spent on payments.
Concerning the top 10 overtime earners last year, the Garda FoI unit would not identify the Garda division in which they are based.
It said that “due to the small number of individuals outlined in the record, the release of the details of the Garda divisions concerned used in conjunction with the rank could identify and thereby disclose the overtime earnings of the individuals concerned”.