ALMOST €1 BILLION has been paid in allowances to Garda members since 2007, according to figures provided by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter to the Dáil.
Some 46 different allowances are payable to gardaí across 94 different categories, and the sums involved have hardly dropped despite talks about cost-cutting involving the Department of Finance and trade unions.
Many of the allowances available can be used by officers towards calculating their pension and others are exempt from tax.
The list supplied by the Minister to Labour TD Seán Kenny includes a boot allowance, uniform allowance, plain clothes allowance and bike allowance. Allowances are also available for working as a dog handler, on the Aran Islands and in the Gaeltacht.
Gardaí receive allowances for being rostered at night or on a Saturday and for being “non-rostered” at these times.
The amount paid in allowances was €928 million since the start of 2007. The figure for the first four months of this year was €73 million. Last year, it was almost €215 million and for 2009, €225 million. This compares to €215 million in 2008 and €200 million in 2007.
The McCarthy report said a “liberal” system of Garda allowances was not in the public interest and claimed a review of pay and other income could achieve savings of €50 million “as a minimum”.
The most expensive single category is the rent allowance, which cost the exchequer €58.9 million in 2008. Each officer up to and including the chief superintendent receives the pensionable €4,017.55 a year payment. Night duty and Sunday allowances are also pensionable.
All members are paid the €2.93 per week boot allowance towards the maintenance of their footwear. Footwear is provided to Garda members. The uniform allowance varies from €4.39 a week for sergeants to €888.82 a year for officers.
Garda dog handlers qualify for a €53.40-a-week allowance, while officers who use bicycles in their work get an extra €2.77 each week. Detectives and juvenile liaison officers receive €30.90 per week to cover out-of-pocket expenses. The payment is not taxable and does not contribute to pensionable pay.
Superintendents and chief superintendents are paid €8,049 and €10,121 respectively for being available outside normal office hours. Members who work in the Gaeltacht and have adequate Irish are paid an additional 7.5 per cent of salary. Crime scene examiners are paid €2,946.90 per year. This payment is intended to compensate for the loss of unsocial hours allowances because crime scenes have to be examined in daylight.
Separately, the Minister told Mr Kenny that the Garda spent €9.7 million on uniforms in 2009 but only €595,000 last year.
