Gardaí spend €750k on meals and clothes for suspects in custody
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An Garda Síochána has spent more than €750,000 providing meals and clothing to suspects in their custody since the beginning of last year.
Under rules for people in custody, gardaí are expected to provide prisoners with two light meals and a dinner in any given 24-hour period.
A breakdown of costs details how An Garda Síochána incurred bills of €377,729 in paying for food and clothes to suspects.
The overall bill is likely to be higher this year, with €377,596 spent in the period between January and the end of September.
Gardaí said they could only provide figures to cover both clothing and food and the combined bill for 2023 and 2024 had been €755,325.
Clothing must also be provided in cases where an arrested person has nothing suitable to wear or their existing clothes are needed for evidence or soiled.
The rates for providing meals for prisoners detained at Garda stations have not been updated since 1996, according to records provided under freedom of information (FOI).
These show the cost of breakfast should be IR£3.75 (€4.76), lunch should be no more than IR£5.00 (€6.35) and an evening meal IR£3.75 (€4.76).
In practice, this means meals provided for prisoners are almost always bought from fast-food restaurants.
A Garda circular says: “The actual cost of expenditure on the provision of meals for persons detained in Garda stations is payable from public funds, subject to the limits set by the current maximum rates allowed.
“Every effort should be made to keep within these limits.”
A detailed breakdown of figures shows the highest bill for meals and clothing was in the Dublin South Central region, where just over €129,000 was spent.
More than €80,000 was spent in both the Dublin North and Dublin North Central areas, while costs close to €50,000 were incurred in Dublin West and Dublin South.
The food and clothing bill for Cork City was €46,209, while in Limerick the total stood at €38,093, according to data released under FOI.
The provision of meals is part of mandatory conditions for prisoners in Garda stations, which include access to toilets and not being held with persons of a different sex.
A detailed note on citizens' rights said only two gardaí could question a suspect at any given time, although up to four may be in a room.
Prisoners can only be questioned for four hours before being entitled to a “reasonable break”.
The information note said: “Where a search of your person involves removal of clothing other than headgear or outer clothing, there must be no person of the opposite sex present unless that person is a doctor.
“Where possible, a search that involves removing your underwear should be carried out by a doctor. If your clothes or shoes are taken by the gardaí, you must be given replacements of a reasonable standard.”