Gardaí broke spending rules with €4m outlay on clothes, shoes and PPE

Force awarded 44 contracts in 2020 without a competitive tendering process

A supplier of safety equipment and uniforms was paid more than €3 million in 2020 in a process that broke rules for the awarding of state contracts. Picture: Getty

An Garda Síochána broke public spending rules with an outlay of more than €4 million on clothes, shoes and PPE in 2020, it has emerged.

Figures provided to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) show a breakdown of non-compliant expenditure totalling more than €8.7 million from 2020.

The gardaí awarded some 44 contracts that year without a competitive tendering process, a letter sent to PAC by the gardaí shows.

It reveals that one company – James ...