THESE CALCULATIONS ARE based on figures given to TheJournal.ie under a Freedom of Information request.

The figures show the top 20 overtime payments paid out to members of An Garda Siochana from 1 January 2017 – 22 November 2017.

An Garda Siochana An Garda Siochana

Click here for a larger image of the above table.

To gauge estimates of hours worked – November has been calculated as a month (which is being measured as 30 days).

However, as there are 31 days in January, March, May, July, August and October – (December is not calculated) – these six dates mean the figures are only two days short of bringing the payments up to 30 November.

It should also be noted that garda shifts are calculated in 10 day bursts of six days on and four days off, which works out as three tours of duty in each 30 day month.

Example 1

If we take that the garda who earned the most in overtime (€68,641) was on the highest rate of pay (and therefore overtime) and worked an average of 40 hours a month on the double rate (€34.53) on Sundays and bank holidays, they could earn €1,381 per month on the higher rate totalling an average of €15,180 up to the end of November.

That would mean they would earn €53,461 on the time and a half rate (€25.90) which would be around 2,064 hours up until 22 November.

That’s around 187 hours a month and 47 hours a week, if we add in the extra 10 hours a week we calculated in at the higher rate, that would be 228 hours of overtime a month.

So gardaí at the highest rate of pay would have to work on average around 57 extra hours a week to make that much (€68,641) in overtime. It would be even more hours if they weren’t at the top end of the pay scale.

However, while the average working week for a garda works out at 40 hours per week, the actual working pattern for a garda working on a regular unit is six days on and four days off. A garda spokesperson said:

Each tour of duty on each day of the six lasts 10 hours, so that a garda works for 60 hours in six consecutive days before getting a four day break and then goes back on six consecutive days.

“The tours must also cover the full 24 hours of a day, so that a garda can work one of three tours each day depending on their unit (or section). The early tour starts at 7am, the late tour can start at 12, 3pm or 5pm and the night tour can start at either 9pm or 11pm.”

So if we look at a 30 day period – with three sets of six 10-hour shifts and four days off – the garda needs to fit in an extra 228 hours on their 12 days off and overtime on their shift days.

Even if they took just one day a week off and worked 15 hours days on the other eight days they have off (120 hours) – that leaves 108 hours of overtime to fit in on top of their 18 10-hour shifts – which would be around 6 hours a day.

That would mean the garda on the highest rate of pay would need to work around 15-16 hours a day, six days a week constantly to manage to earn that much in overtime in the year.

Example 2

If we take a look at the lowest figure for overtime garda pay within the top 20 – €57,131 -and based that figure on a garda who has been working for 10 years and has a base salary of €46,793 with overtime rates of €24.02 and €32.03 – we’re still looking at around 68 extra hours in each 10 day period.

Again if we take 40 hours a month on the higher rate of overtime (€32.03) for Sundays and bank holidays – the garda could earn €1,281 a month – around €14,093 until 22 November.

So that leaves €43,038 to be earned at the lower rate of €24.02 – which would be 1,791 hours in 11 months.

Which is around 163 hours a month on time and a half and another 40 hours on double time – totaling 203 hours hours of overtime a month.

Again given the 10 day shifts of six days on and four off, a garda would need to work around 68 extra hours in each 10 day period.

If a garda worked an extra two hours on each day of their six 10-day shifts (12 hours), they would have 56 hours to make up on their four days off to earn that much overtime.

In this case the garda would have worked 10 12-hour shifts on their six working days and 14 hours each day on their four days off with no break to earn €57,131.