Gardaí lost more than 235,000 days to illness in 2022

Ken Foxe

Gardaí lost more than 235,000 days to illness last year, almost a third of it the direct result of assaults or accidents that happened while on duty.

The force said officers had been absent from work for 20,807 days because an of malicious injury suffered while carrying out their job.

Another 40,217 days were lost where a garda suffered injuries during an accident while on duty.

There were another 6,822 days of absence linked to officers who hurt themselves during a road traffic accident when working.

Twenty days of sick leave were taken by gardaí who suffered malicious injuries while off duty while 6,715 days were logged as occupational injuries arising from duty.

Altogether, 235,742 days were lost to illness last year in An Garda Síochána among its near 14,000 member force, an average of around seventeen per person.

That included 5,141 absences that were linked to mental health issues and 25,351 listed as “critical illness”.

There were also 53,112 days lost to flu or viral illnesses, including Covid-19, and 9,504 days illness for musculoskeletal injuries or similar issues.

Logged as well were 697 days of post-pregnancy complications, and 5,610 days related to pregnancies, according to a database of sick leave provided under FOI.

An Garda also listed 10,771 days of sick leave having been taken for surgery, or post-operative recovery in their records.

The overall figures were sharply up on 2021 when the total number of days of illness taken was around 204,000, almost 30,000 fewer than in 2022.

There were also 46,151 days lost to illness among the garda’s 3,143 whole-time equivalent civilian staff, an average of around 14.7 days per person.

There were almost no absences linked to injuries suffered on duty, just 337.5 days in total, reflecting the far less dangerous nature of their office work.

The database also listed 9,139 days of critical illness leave, 1,669 days lost to mental health issues, and 14,900 days of flu or viral sickness.

Also logged were 421 days of post-pregnancy absence, 1,305 days of pregnancy-related leave, and 1,800 days for surgery or post-operative recovery.

An information note said: “Sickness absences are recorded and reported under the following categories – ordinary illness, occupational injury/illness arising from duty, and critical illness.”