Gardaí were paid more than €205 million in allowances last year, including boot allowances, Gaeltacht allowances, and payments for serving in the ministerial pool of drivers.
Almost a third of the money – or €73.2 million – was paid out in a Sunday allowance to more than 13,500 members, for an average of around €5,400 per person.
Another €43 million was paid out in rostered night duty to more than 13,000 members, with the average payment working out at just over €3,200 for each member.
There was also a payment of around €18.9 million in public holiday allowances, shared between over 13,360 individual gardaí.
Annual premium payments worth €12.47 million were paid as well to 13,804 different people according to figures released under FOI.
Boot allowances totalling €2.1 million were paid to more than 14,000 individual gardaí, each worth about €150 per person.
There were also a variety of uniform allowances paid, which together came to a cost of around €2.9 million, the garda figures showed.
Other more specific payments were made to gardaí in particular jobs with €3.57 million paid in a “detective allowance” to 4,879 different gardaí.
There was an “availability allowance” paid to 318 members, which came to a combined €2.18 million, or around €6,900 per person.
Instructor allowances totalling €2.16 million were paid out to 408 gardaí, while 3,440 members shared €1.875 million in a “plain clothes allowance”.
Payments totalling €960,000 were paid to 82 gardaí for working in the minister’s pool, providing driving and security services to officeholders.
Gaeltacht allowances cost €789,859 and were paid to 194 members serving in Irish-speaking regions, or an average of €4,071 per person.
Other payments made last year included €712,661 in transport allowances, €615,119 in overseas allowances, and €487,821 in a “scene of crimes allowance”.
There was also €400,379 paid out to court presenters, €67,118 to dog handlers, and €286,391 in what were described as “expert allowances”.
Other allowances paid included the air support unit allowance, a radio allowance, an immigration allowance, and an acting inspector allowance.
Gardaí said a small number of members were also in receipt of other allowances, but that providing figures on how many individuals received them could identify them.
These payments included a safety advisor allowance, an Aran Island allowance, a water unit allowance, and a change management allowance, each of which totalled less than €100,000.
A garda spokesperson said: “Allowances, as approved through various reports and collective agreements, are paid to an individual member as appropriate to their specific duties.
“The rates of each allowance is set by the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform and payment of allowances is processed by the Financial Shared Services unit of the Department of Justice.”
