Gardaí facing overtime cuts as more leaving than joining force

18/05/2025

Gardaí face overtime cuts due to the Coalition’s failure to deliver on pre-election promises to boost numbers, Extra.ie can reveal.

New figures confirm more Gardaí have left the force than joined it so far this year.

This comes as Garda bosses warned current overtime spending is ‘not sustainable’ and is being significantly cut for the remainder of 2025.

The Government allocated a record €151m for overtime this year – up 13% on 2024.

However, much of this has already been spent on extra hours to cover the lack of gardaí required for frontline and operational policing.

So far this year, An Garda Síochána has recruited just 149 new officers, who graduated from the Garda Training College in Templemore in March .Latest figures confirm that, as of late last week, 156 Gardaí have retired or resigned since the start of the year.