GARDAí are no friends of the earth, if their colossal fuel bills are anything to go by.

The 13,000-strong force has mounted up petrol and diesel costs of €42m in the past six years, the Department of Justice has said.

That means each and every member of the gardaí had a personal fuel bill of nearly €3,200 since 2003.

The figure is set to exceed €10m for the first time this year after hitting a record high of €9.347m during 2007.

Reflecting the rising prices of fuel and gas, the force's fuel bill has almost doubled from the €5.1m spent in 2002.

"It would be expected that our fuel bill is considerable considering the amount of call-outs and patrols that are going on every day," said one senior garda.

"Like any organisation, however, we are concerned about the environment and we have seen the introduction of mountain bikes plus an increasing use of foot patrols in recent years."

The garda fleet comprises 2,148 vehicles, consisting of 1,521 cars, 234 vans, 230 motorbikes, 92 four-wheel drives and 70 other miscellaneous vehicles.

Gardaí also include ministerial cars in their fleet numbers.

Another massive area of expenditure is on maintenance of the fleet. A total of €21.5m has been spent repairs.