Gardai identify reason why amount spent on overtime has significantly increased in 2023

The overtime spend for the first nine months equates to an average daily spend of just €506,337 per day

The visit of US President Joe Biden to Ireland in April has been the chief factor in sending the Garda overtime bill for 2023 surging by €48.2m to a record €138.23m for the first nine months of this year.

In new Garda figures, they show that the Garda overtime spend from January to the end of September of €138.23m already out-strips the €127.22m overtime spend across the 12 months of 2022 by €11m.

The overtime spend for the first nine months equates to an average daily spend of just €506,337 per day and the €138.23m outlay compares to a spend of €89.99m for the corresponding nine month period for last year - a jump of 54 per cent.

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The financial impact of the President Joe Biden visit is underlined by figures showing that the Garda overtime spend in the second quarter of this year amounted to €66.39m providing an overtime bonanza to the Gardai.

The €66.39m spend from the start of April to the end of June is an increase of €30.3m or 84 per cent on the spend of €36.05m for the same period in 2022.

The Garda divisions that operate in the counties where President Biden visited recorded the largest hikes in overtime during the second quarter.

The security operation in place for the four day President Biden visit was one of the biggest ever seen on the island of Ireland involving over 2,000 Garda members and much larger in scale than when former US president Barack Obama visited in 2011.

As part of the operation, Gardai put in place a plan to transport extra gardaí to counties Mayo and Louth to bolster manpower on the ground.

The figures for Mayo/Roscommon/Longford Garda Division show that the overtime spend for the second quarter was €2.58m - this compares to €1m for the same quarter in the prior year.

The overtime bill for Co Louth for the second quarter of this year was €1.89m - which is almost double the €1m a year earlier.

The Galway division also recorded more than a doubling in overtime pay from €777,418 in the second quarter of 2022 to €2.07m in the second quarter in 2023.

All of the specialist Garda units – including the Armed Response Units, Special Detective Unit, Public Order Unit, Garda Dog Unit and others – were also involved in the policing operation, with all Garda leave cancelled for the duration of the visit.

The overtime pay to national units and Garda HQ across the three quarters doubled from €14m to €28.97m this year.

The Garda overtime spend for the third quarter totalled €36.59m compares to an overtime spend of €26.9m for the corresponding period in 2022.

The Dublin riot on mainly O’Connell Street last month occurred in an area that is part of the Dublin Metropolitan North Central division.

The overtime figures show that the overtime spend for DMR North Central totals €8.9m for the first three quarters - which is a 51 per cent on the €5.87m spend for the first three quarters of 2022.

The overtime time for Dublin North Central for July to the end of September totals €2.64m compares to €1.78m for the same period in 2022 - a jump of 48 per cent.

The figures show that the overtime spend for the six Dublin Metropolitan divisions totalled €47m - a 67pc increase on the €28.08m for the same nine months last year.

Dublin North had the highest spend of any geographical Garda division this year at €9.85m.

During the President Biden visit, the then Minister for Justice, Simon Harris (FG) said that he expected the overtime costs to be significant.

He said: "There will of course be significant costs associated with this, we don't know them yet, they won't crystallise yet.

He added: “But to be honest, those costs will pale in significance with the benefit of the visit. The benefit to what I hope is going to continue to embed peace on our island, but also indeed the economic benefit, the tourism benefit, the profile benefit, that a US Presidential visit brings.”

The overtime spend of €138m for the first nine months also tops the overtime spend of €112.52m for 2021 and €97.86m for 2020.

The overtime spend for 2021 and 2020 includes overtime for policing operations related to public health restrictions in place as part of the State's response to COVID-19 emergency.

The figures show that the overtime spend was €105.9m in 2019 and €117.05m in 2018.

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