Mr. Drew Harris:

As the Deputy knows, 2017 saw the introduction of the mandatory 15-minute briefing time. In some ways, that is a fixed cost. It will cost us around €22 million this year. As the number of members of An Garda Síochána grows, that cost will continue to increase if the agreement on the 15 minutes stays in place. That was a considerable cost in that year. In addition, a rent allowance was built into salary in that year and also became pensionable. That was added to the hourly rate so actual overtime became more expensive, in and of itself. A one-time allowance became pay and that increased the hourly rate. Those two factors contributed and also, as I said in my opening remarks, a vicious drugs feud which required an extraordinary response from the organisation was ongoing that year . I will now ask Mr. Twomey to outline some of the operational impacts of that during the year in question.