Over €5m spent on overtime for Cork gardaí in six months

Over €5m was been spent on garda overtime in Cork in the first half of 2025, data from An Garda Síochána shows, with garda staff costs rising almost 500% in Cork city year-on-year.

A total of €5,013,648 has been spent in six months across frontline gardaí and administrative staff, with €2,978,343 spent in the Cork city garda division and €2,035,305 in Cork county. It comes as The Echo recently revealed a decrease of 52 gardaí in Cork in the last two-and-a-half years.

There were 1,331 gardaí in the county at the end of 2022, with 709 in the Cork city division and 622 in the county. At the end of May, the figure was 1,279 gardaí in the county — with 663 in the city and 616 in the county division.

Labour Cork city councillor Peter Horgan told The Echo that the reduction in garda headcount was the reason for the increase in overtime costs.

“The spend on garda overtime in Cork can be directly attributed to the continuing fall in numbers in Cork city and county,” he said.

He called for action from Justin Kelly, who is set to become the new Garda Commissioner on September 1.

“The new commissioner must prioritise Cork and allocate on a regular basis, not on a once-off headline-grabbing allocation, but on a regular basis with sufficient gardaí to address the personnel crisis evident in Cork.”

Garda data is broken down into frontline members and administrative staff, and shows that a total of €2.8m overtime was paid out to frontline gardaí in Cork city; €1.1m from January to March and €1.7m from April to June.

In Cork county, €2,011,265 in total was paid out, comprising €829,280 in the first quarter of the year and €1,181,985 in the second quarter.

For administrative garda staff, €161,316 was paid out in the city and €24,040 in the county. There was €62,792 and €12,781 paid out in the city and county respectively in the first three months of the year, and €98,523 and €11,259 in the next three months.

Across Cork, the amount of overtime rose 48% between the first quarter, when a total of €2,022,992 was spent, and the second quarter, when costs rose to €2,992,178.

Costs grew faster in Cork city (52%) than in Cork county (42%), with the city alone accounting for around two-thirds (€616k of €968k) of the overall Cork increase.

COMPARED

Compared to the same period in 2024, overtime rose by €684k, or 16% year-on-year. Cork city overtime jumped sharply, by 42%, while overtime in Cork county dropped slightly, by 9%.

In 2024, a total of €4,329,764 was spent on overtime, with €2,095,791 spent in the city and €2,233,973 in the county. In the city, 2025 saw an increase of €748,594, or 36%, in frontline costs and a sharp rise of €133,958 in staff overtime from 2024 costs of €27,358, a 490% rise.

Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said this increase was particularly worrying. “There is garda work that civilians can do, so the fact that this civilian overtime increased so significantly means they don’t have enough staff. That has an impact on overtime, but also on frontline gardaí. They are having to do work that could be done by civilians and it’s taking them away from the beat.”

He told The Echo: “The very significant increase in garda overtime is a sign that the gardaí we have in place are being stretched.

“We support the use of overtime to ensure there is an adequate garda presence but the story these figures are telling is that in many stations in the city, overtime is being used to paper over the cracks caused by lack of staff.

“The gardaí we have are doing the best they can, but overtime is not a permanent solution.”