Mr. Drew Harris:

Overtime distribution within the organisation is weighted towards operational requirements. About 20% of the overtime is used up in the quarter-hour briefing at the commencement of each turn of duty, which is a considerable amount. Another 25% is used in ancillary work concerned with court security, court attendance, escorting prisoners and so on. A considerable amount of our overtime is drawn into things that may not necessarily be adding to the policing plan overall. We are very conscious, then, of what is left in terms of its distribution and its control. That has been a focus for this and other years.

This year in particular we are very determined to stay within our annual budget. We were under extraordinary pressure, not just with overtime, in the context of the visits of both President Trump and Vice President Pence. There was other expenditure involved, beyond overtime. There were all sorts of issues around feeding people, travel costs as well as operational costs in terms of equipment, including additional equipment. Those were very considerable operations and we are still having a conversation with the Government in respect of them, primarily because the visit of Vice President Pence is not even fully costed yet. We are still working through the costs in respect of that. The visits were very considerable, if not extraordinary, operations and were unknown on 1 January when we set out on the year. They involved quite considerable expenditure, but overall, in respect of the Garda Vote, we are determined this year to remain within the confines of our budget and, in effect, to cut our cloth accordingly.