On Tuesday, a new deputy commissioner for An Garda Síochána is set to be approved by the ministers. The approval comes after several months of delay due to concerns about pension and tax matters. The Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, has put forward the new appointment to the Cabinet, subsequent to a public selection process supervised by the Public Appointments Service.
Two deputy commissioners support the Garda Commissioner at the top of the organisation structure – one specifically in charge of “policing and security,” the other responsible for “strategy, governance and performance”. The former position has remained open since March, as senior garda members showed hesitance to apply due to concerns that being promoted might adversely affect their pension.
The deputy commissioner’s role offers a basic yearly salary nearly €200,000, which is €30,000 higher than that of an assistant commissioner. Multiple candidates have applied for the vacancy, making the competition intense, according to a trusted source.
Appointing a deputy commissioner has been frequently postponed owing to persisting apprehensions about tax and pension matters. The government, in 2005, implemented policies to restrict individuals from abusing tax deductions relating to pensions. Thus, any person amassing over €5 million had to surrender a significant chunk to the state. This maximum limit, known as the standard fund threshold (SFT), currently stands at €2 million, from 2014 onwards.
The Department of Finance clarifies that there exist limits to the pension fund that can receive tax relief. The SFT regime, established in 2005, was designed to limit excess pension funding over a certain amount, at which point a 40 per cent income tax would be levied. Originally, the SFT was €5 million in 2005, which was later reduced to €2.3 million in December 2010, and then to €2 million in 2014, where it essentially remained.
Since members of the garda are eligible for a complete public-service pension after 30 years – in contrast to 40 years for other public servants – their pension funds increase at a faster pace, hence the current rules have profound tax consequences specifically for them. In recent news from September, the Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers, announced a phased growth in the SFT by €200,000 each year starting from 2026.