Garda allocated €26m overtime boost in budget ahead of recruitment of up to 1,000 new members

An Garda Síochána will recruit between 800 and 1,000 new members next year and has been allocated a significant boost in overtime, to €131 million, in the budget. The increase in overtime, of €26 million, is intended to bolster high visibility policing as the Garda tries to recover from falling numbers in recent years.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said “the steady stream” of Garda recruits “entering and exiting” the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary in 2024 would negate the need for spending on overtime as the year progresses.

While the force had reached a record high of 14,750 sworn members in early 2020, the closure of the college during the pandemic brought recruitment to a halt. Garda numbers have since fallen to 13,900 and though recruitment recommenced earlier this year the first intakes into the college were smaller than anticipated and those classes remain in training.

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In a bid to ensure Garda recruitment efforts attract sufficient numbers, recruits will immediately be paid a higher weekly allowance. The budget has increased that payment to €305 per week, up from the €184 weekly training allowance in place since 2011. Any Garda recruit in training will continue to receive €184 until the end of the year, when a backdated lump sum will be paid. Additionally, 250 civilian workers will be recruited by the Garda next year.

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Ms McEntee said a new Garda recruitment campaign would commence very soon, while a separate campaign for the part-time and unpaid Garda Reserve would be launched in the new year, the first recruitment into the reserve force since 2017.

“My top priority is building stronger, safer communities and that is reflected in the budget for An Garda Síochána,” said Ms McEntee, noting it had grown by €430 million since she took office in 2020. “The year to date has seen three classes of recruits entering Templemore to begin their training as gardaí and that will continue with new cohorts entering their training next week and in December.”

While the recent increase in fatalities on the roads had caused “shock”, she said the budget had provided the funding required for a 20 per cent increased in the use of GoSafe vans – mobile speed camera vans. This €1.2 million increase would mean the deployment of the vans for 9,000 hours per month, up 1,500 hours.

Overall, the Garda budget has increased by €63 million, or just under three per cent, to €2.31 billion. The Irish Prison Service has seen its allocation for 2024 increase by €17 million, or 4 per cent, to €439 million, while the Court Service budget is up by 2 per cent, or €3.4 million, to €183 million.

This increase in prison service budget includes an additional €12.4 million to provide for 65,000 additional staffing hours “to deal with the current pressures and the recruitment of more prison officers”. The Probation Service has also been allocation an additional €2.5 million to fund the expansion of the joint agency response to crime, community service and restorative justice, and to provide effective alternatives to prison.

Furthermore, €9.25 million has been provided to help put in place a range of new State agencies, including: the Gambling Authority; the Office of the Police Ombudsman - which is replacing existing Garda watchdogs; the Policing and Community Safety Authority; the National Office of Community Safety and the Office of the Independent Examiner. There is also an increase of €12 million for the Zero Tolerance strategy, which includes the creation of the new Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Community Safety agency and for the delivery of refuge accommodation.