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THE MUSICAL BAND maintained by An Garda Síochána has cost taxpayers to the tune of €5.5 million in the past three years, new figures have revealed.
The Garda Band is comprised of 29 full-time musicians, who perform at a variety of national events including the Rose of Tralee Festival, the National Ploughing Championships, and the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin.
Members of the band, none of whom are involved in policing duties, were paid an average of €58,985 each last year; and racked up transport, travel and subsistence expenses of €88,487 between 2014 and 2016.
Clothing and accessories for the Garda Band also cost the taxpayer €78,677 during the same period, while a further €70,426 was spent on communications and other equipment for the troupe.
The revelation that the Garda Band accounted for €5,478,764 of police spending during the past three years emerges less than a week after the scarcity of resources within An Garda Síochána came under scrutiny before the Oireachtas Justice Committee.
Last Thursday, Acting Garda Commissioner John Twomey told the Committee that the force’s overtime budget for 2017 was “under significant strain” and it had been necessary for Garda management to seek extra funding.
At the end of November, all non-essential overtime had to be reduced for a period of six days in an attempt to bring spending back in line with its budget. The overtime allocation for next year has also been reduced, said Twomey.
Records released under the Freedom of Information Act show that the cost of maintaining the Garda Band has increased by more than 5% in the past three years despite the number of members being reduced from 30 to 29.
In addition to salaries and allowances amounting to €5.2 million between 2014 and 2016, a total of €24,480 was spent on “training, development and incidental” expenses for the band; while €10,864 was spent in connection with the band’s premises in Phoenix Park.
The band provides music for official functions, such as graduation ceremonies at the Garda College in Co Tipperary, according to the police authority’s website.
“The band undertakes a heavy, community-oriented programme each year, performing at schools, festivals and sporting events,” it states.
“It has a long association with Lansdowne Road for rugby and soccer internationals, the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin, and the Rose of Tralee Festival.
“The band has travelled to many international events and has represented the country on a number of occasions at police festivals and concerts in Switzerland, Germany and Northern Ireland.”
The Garda Band was established shortly after the foundation of An Garda Síochána in 1922. It was disbanded in November 1965 and its 35 full-time members were told to report for ordinary policing duties.
The decision was taken by then-Justice Minister Brian Lenihan, who said that the band had “outlived its usefulness” and that the cost of maintaining it was “excessive, wasteful, and out of all proportion to any purpose served”.
The band was re-established in 1972, however, to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of An Garda Síochána, and has remained a part of the force ever since.
The garda press office did not respond to a request for comment.
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Hailo raised it percentage take and lost taxi drivers.
When was that?just curious
Hailo charge 12% commisssion, that’s it. No €79.00 or €99.00 a week with Citycabs/Global/Lynk.
Still has over half the Dublin fleet at 7,000+
Hailo will lose more drivers if they keep uping the aunty with price and rules silly rules !
You can’t up an “Aunty”, well maybe you can. Upping the ante is another thing. lol
They do take credit card but yes you do have to sign up first
They lost me when they stooped the use of their credit card facilities for non bailout jobs/customers it was extremely handy
What is a non bailout job or customer
I think he misspelled it ……..its meant to read non hailo jobs as in you used to be able to take credit card jobs of the street now the customer has to download the app if they want to pay by card…….stupid idea from hailo…
Hailo have added the option to pre book now so that’s not a unique feature for lynk
Hailo had to add that feature because it was the next step …….and to keep up with other apps that have that feature before them ….e.g…cab:app
My husband left a cab company recently. The company sold the controlling share to the guy named above. They thought that they could sell the drivers rent as part of the business package, (Approx’ €5K per year),forgetting that the drivers hire the cab company to supply them with work, and they work for the driver. Not wanting any association withthe new owners, he fired them.
He wondered why, as he calls it “the Weakest Lynk”, chose the exact same colour branding as Hailo? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I suppose.
Lynk taxis. €25 free sign up. €5 per journey if you pay by card but wait there’s a €3 booking fee before you sit in the taxi. It is removed after you use your “free” €25. So, free €10 sign up.
They can’t charge €3 for booking ! €2 is max Hailo don’t charge for booking
They do. I got a taxi that usually costs less than €5 and cost me over €8. Minus the “five” free. When you contact them they say that is taken off when your €25 is up.
I always use the lynk app ( Irish owned company)
To be fair Hailo was set up by 3 guys one Irish
it was set up back 3 London black cab drivers
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