Senior Gardaí officials say they feel “misled” by recent moves by the Government to change the tax payable on large civil service pensions. Their dissatisfaction with the changes is likely to complicate the state’s efforts to fill a number of senior positions within the Garda in the coming months, including finding a replacement for Drew Harris as Garda commissioner.

However, the police authority – which nominates candidates for senior positions and also oversees recruitment competitions – said Garda senior positions were “extremely well paid” and should be attractive to many senior officers.

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Garda sources have said any long-serving member who applies for the role of Garda commissioner, to succeed Drew Harris next year, would face a tax liability of at least €500,000 when they take up his retirement. The sources added that the responsibility is so great that they doubted any long-serving members of the Garda would apply for the job.

This raises the prospect that only candidates from outside the Republic or those who have recently joined the Garda from other police forces – none of whom would be affected by the tax liability – would apply for the position of Garda Commissioner , which will be announced in the first half of next year. The conflict could flare up again within a few weeks when a vacancy at deputy commissioner level is announced.

The promise to officers that the pension tax issue would be resolved ended a long-standing, embarrassing impasse over filling the vacant deputy commissioner post. Deputy Commissioner Justin Kelly was announced two weeks ago as the successful candidate, a year after the position was first advertised.

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Multiple sources said the government’s assurances to senior officers were enough to persuade several senior Garda members to apply for the assistant commissioner position. But when the government recently announced changes to the pension tax issue, it did not go as far as officials had led it to believe, much to their chagrin.

The police authority said that while it was aware of the “personal concerns raised” by some Garda members, the Standard Funds Threshold (SFT) was not something it had no influence over, but has stressed that it applied to all workers.

“It has universal application in the public and private sectors and tax issues depend on individual and personal circumstances,” the authority said. “Leadership positions within An Garda Síochána are exciting and challenging positions and are extremely well paid. The authority hopes that this will make them very attractive to a wide range of candidates.”

The problem centers on SFT, which meant that once a pension was worth more than €2 million, an effective tax rate of up to 72 percent was applied to any excess, resulting in d significant tax obligations in retirement. Some Garda officers who have retired in recent years face liabilities worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

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Last month, following a review by independent expert Dr Donal de Buitléir, the government announced that the SFT would be increased gradually to €2.8 million, starting in 2026 and increasing by €200,000 per year until 2029.

The government has not implemented all of the study’s recommendations, which included a 10 percent reduction, from 40 percent, in the excess tax chargeable on large pensions.

The Ministry of Finance said the minister had “carefully considered (Dr Buitléir’s) report and that, taking into account the report’s recommendations, the government has agreed to implement a phased approach to changes to the funding regime for government funding.” financial transactions, with some changes to be legislated for this year and others to be considered in the future.”

The Ministry of Justice said that the SFT was under the Ministry of Finance.