DUBLIN, Ireland: An Garda Síochána spent 590,000 euros on hotel accommodation for members policing the 2024 UEFA Europa League final in Dublin, including 248,500 euros on rooms that were never used, according to a new report from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG).
The match, held in May and attended by more than 20,000 overseas fans, saw Italian side Atalanta defeat Germany's Bayer Leverkusen 3–0. Policing costs for the event reached 7.8 million euros, with overtime—at 4.92 million euros—the most significant single expense.
Accommodation was a significant source of wastage. One month before the final, Garda management had booked 727 hotel rooms, with potential capacity for 1,454 officers. However, the Garda Representative Association objected to shared rooms, prompting the force to cancel 246 rooms. This led to 91,577 euros in cancellation fees charged by six of the 11 affected hotels. At the same time, Gardaí booked 59 new rooms, leaving 500 twin and 40 single rooms available for the three-day operation—enough to house 1,040 members per night.
Despite this, the C&AG found that an average of 315 beds went unused each night, at a cost of 145,698 euros. Room allocation errors added to the problem: 13 officers were assigned two rooms in the same hotel, while 11 were assigned two rooms in separate hotels.
The audit also uncovered overlapping expense claims. A total of 145 members submitted subsistence claims that included accommodation, despite already having been assigned hotel rooms. This resulted in double payments worth 32,598 euros. In addition, 108 meal allowance claims should have been reduced because meals were directly provided, leading to a further potential overpayment of 2,408 euros.
In total, the C&AG identified more than 250 cases of possible overpayments in travel and subsistence, amounting to 35,000 euros. It noted that this figure was likely an underestimate.
The report was critical of the Garda's approach, saying the level of wasted spending "does not represent value for money." Among the weaknesses identified was the reliance on a manual spreadsheet to allocate hotel rooms during Operation Argillite, the codename for the policing effort.
In response, Garda management said internal auditors would review the findings and that any confirmed overpayments would be recouped. The force also pledged to explore more "sophisticated" methods for allocating accommodation to reduce the risk of administrative errors in future large-scale operations.
