Taxpayers ‘may be subsidising’ commercial events as Garda charges ‘low’ – PAC

Taxpayers may be “subsidising” commercial events as gardai are not charging a high enough rate to cover associated policing expenses, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned.

The PAC said there was a need for policing at sporting occasions and music festivals but pointed out that An Garda Siochana was charging a fixed flat rate of 45 euro per hour per member for such coverage at “non-public duty” (NPD) events.

However, the Comptroller and Auditor General previously flagged to the PAC that this rate often underestimates the true cost of policing events as it is applied regardless of rank of members involved, overtime, or premium pay for weekends and holidays.

Previous Garda commissioner Drew Harris said the 45-euro rate was brought in 2022, and was equivalent to the overtime rate of time-and-a-half.

In one example, gardai charged 207,180 euro for a high-profile 2023 event when the true cost was ultimately estimated at 274,166 euro.

Seven million euro has been recovered from policing commercial events but some payments remained outstanding at the time gardai provided evidence to the committee.

The PAC said it was concerned the charging model “lacked transparency and rigour required to safeguard public funds” – while chairman John Brady said the 45 euro rate seemed “extremely low”.

Asked what the minimum rate should be, Mr Brady said it was not an area the committee gave consideration to as it did not have “line of sight” on the additional costs put on An Garda Siochana for policing such events.

The Sinn Fein TD told reporters at a report launch on Tuesday: “Promoters are making considerable amounts of money, and there is absolutely necessity to provide policing at those (events) but there’s serious questions as to how that figure has been arrived at.”

Asked about the potential for event ticket prices to rise if the Garda rate increases, Mr Brady said: “These events are on a commercial basis. They’re organised by promoters who I’m sure are making substantial amounts of money with regard to the events they put on.”

He said the PAC’s priority was to ensure that “every penny of taxpayers’ money” is spent appropriately.

Fine Gael TD Joe Neville said the PAC was not calling for increased ticket prices but was instead seeking transparency on whether the State was subsidising commercial events.

However, it said that due to the way information about hours worked, travel and subsistence claimed is recorded, it cannot “determine the cost recovery rate or verify if charges are set at an appropriate level”.

Labour TD Eoghan Kenny said there was a “worrying pattern of waste of public money” around the “subsidising of private events” as well as the almost 90,000 euro spent on defective gun holsters.

The report also raised concerns about the risks surrounding oversight of approximately 40 million euro in cash which was being held as evidence across the Garda estate, pending the outcome of criminal proceedings.

It said it An Garda Siochana should examine the feasibility of lodging seized cash into secure interest-bearing accounts, similar to the arrangements operated by the revenue commissioners.

Deputy chairman Paul McAuliffe described the revelations around the cash held in storage as “jaw-dropping”.

The Fianna Fail TD said there was a potential the State was losing hundreds of thousands of euro in unearned interest from the cash held in storage.

The PAC said it was recommending that An Garda Siochana responds to its report within nine months.