The Garda Band has cost taxpayers an average of almost €25,000 per performance since 2020 – a figure comparable to booking fees charged by some top stars in the music industry.
Nearly €4.6 million has been spent on the ensemble over the past two-and-a-half years, during which time it has played at a total of 190 events in settings including schools, nursing homes, hospitals, and churches.
The €24,123 average cost of each gig is roughly equivalent to booking fees charged by top English bands The Kaiser Chiefs and Editors, and slightly more than Paolo Nutini and Macy Gray, according to a price list previously leaked by a booking agency.
Read More: Garda Band cost taxpayers nearly €1.75 million in 2018
For an extra €6,000, event organisers could hire Grammy Award-winning US band The National, R&B singer Kelis, or American rapper Ice Cube, details that emerged from Degy Entertainment reveal.
The Garda Band is currently comprised of 26 full-time musicians who are ordinarily not involved in policing duties, but were deployed to assist with the implementation of Covid-19 restrictions at peak periods of the pandemic.
It still managed to perform at 84 events in 2020 and a further 37 last year. In the first six months of 2022, the band played at 69 functions, including a St. Patrick’s Day event in London.
A number of performances during the pandemic took place remotely, including a series of three Christmas concerts during which the band was joined by a ‘flossing’ Santa Claus and two dancing elves named Sprinkles and Sparkles.
Almost €4,468,088 in salaries, wages and allowances have been paid to members of the band since 2020, while travel, transport and subsistence accounted for a further €35,688.
The events at which the Garda Band performed this year included the Fairyhouse Races in April, the opening of Dublin Airport Garda Station in May, and a garden party in Cork in June.
Earlier this year, Justice Minister Helen McEntee confirmed that An Garda Síochána was in the process of engaging with the Public Appointments Service with a view recruiting professional musicians to fill a number of vacancies with the band. The troupe had 29 members in 2020 but this has since been reduced to 26.
The band was established shortly after the foundation of the state but was disbanded in 1965, when its 35 full-time members were told to report for ordinary policing duties.
The decision was taken by then-justice minister Brian Lenihan Sr., 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”.
However, the band was re-established in 1972 to mark the 50th anniversary of An Garda Síochána, and has remained part of the force since then.
A Garda spokesman said the band was dedicated to the development of good relations with the community as well as performing at official functions.
“It achieves this through performance of a varied, entertainment-focused programme which evolves to suit every audience, event or setting,” he explained.
“The band plays a cultural role on behalf of the state, in bringing live musical performance of every musical genre to communities nationwide, many of whom would not otherwise experience live music.
“Members of the Garda Band were redeployed to frontline policing duties in response to the policing requirement during peak periods of the Covid-19 pandemic and all band performances during the Covid-19 pandemic were organised and undertaken in line with applicable public health guidelines,” added the spokesman.
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