THE STATE SPENDING watchdog has found that An Garda Siochána spent €250,000 on hotel rooms to house its members while they were policing the Europa League final that were ultimately not used.

The Comptroller and Auditor General today published its report examining spending by public services last year. 

One area examined within the report was the accommodation costs for policing the UEFA Europa League final. The final, which took place in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 22 May last year, cost €7.8m to police, including overtime payments. 

Gardaí did not begin a public procurement process for the booking of accommodation.

An Garda Siochana spent €586,042 on booking 786 rooms for garda members for the final on 23 April, two months after the organisation held their operational planning meeting for the UEFA game.

A week later, on 30 April, a directive was issued by garda headquarters asking members to confirm if they needed accommodation, transport, or meals while policing the event. Members were given a deadline of 9 May to respond, but requisitions and amendments continued up until 20 May, two days before the event.

On 20 May, based off the information given by its members, gardaí cancelled 246 of the rooms originally booked. Another 59 rooms were booked. The total number of rooms booked was 540 across 14 hotels.

Of the cancelled 246 rooms, 128 were cancelled at no cost. Gardaí paid for the remaining 118, which cost the organisation €91,577.

Of the final 540 rooms, some of which were twin rooms, there were 1,040 beds per night. 

Gardaí did not occupy 339 of these beds, costing €156,956.

The watchdog found that gardaí did not have a policy for the logistical planning of “extraordinary” events such as the Europa League final. It also found that gardaí booking the hotel rooms in bulk two months before the operation incurred excess cost as it had not assessed likely demand. 

Of the nearly €590,000 spent on accommodation for the event, over 40% was not used. 

“Notwithstanding the challenges in assessing demand for necessary accommodation, this level of wastage does not represent value for money,” the watchdog said.

The account officer is noted within the report as agreeing with the watchdog’s conclusion, and early engagement with garda members to ensure a more streamlined and appropriate accommodation and meal booking process has been in place since the fourth quarter of 2024.

Sinn Féin TD John Brady, who heads the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said that PAC would like the examine the situation more closely following the report.