Gardai yesterday appeared to be content with their New Year's overtime pay package in line with other public-sectors workers. Under the deal, gardai will receive additional payments, on top of salary and normal overtime allowances, of £45 an hour for working between 8 p.m. on December 31st and 8 a.m. on January 1st.
Outside this "core" period there will be additional payments of £30 an hour for work between 8 a.m. on December 31st and 8 a.m. on January 2nd.
Garda sources said yesterday they expected that the New Year would be busy for gardai and the emergency services, particularly in relation to disturbances arising from drunkenness.
The fact that many licensed premises are closing early on New Year is expected to result in many people drinking in their own homes.
This, according to gardai, is usually a signal for increased "domestic" violence.
The award is much less than the £1,000 payment which was sought by the Garda Representative Association (GRA).
At the GRA's annual conference in May, delegates demanded that the gardai receive a one-off payment of £1,000 for working on New Year's night.
Yesterday, some 8,000 gardai received an after-tax sum of about £1,500 as part of the pay settlement agreed at the start of the month.
It comprises more than 18-months of back pay which was held up while negotiations took place.