We prove that algebraic solutions of Garnier systems in the irregular case are of two types. The classical ones come from isomonodromic deformations of linear equations with diagonal or dihedral differential Galois group; we give a complete list in the rank-2 case (two indeterminates). The pull-back ones come from deformations of coverings over a fixed degenerate hypergeometric equation; we provide a complete list when the differential Galois group is $\text{SL}_{2}(\mathbb{C})$. As a byproduct, we obtain a complete list of algebraic solutions for the rank-2 irregular Garnier systems.

The germ of the universal isomonodromic deformation of a logarithmic connection on a stable $n$-pointed genus $g$ curve always exists in the analytic category. The first part of this article investigates under which conditions it is the analytic germification of an algebraic isomonodromic deformation. Up to some minor technical conditions, this turns out to be the case if and only if the monodromy of the connection has finite orbit under the action of the mapping class group. The second part of this work studies the dynamics of this action in the particular case of reducible rank 2 representations and genus $g>0$, allowing to classify all finite orbits. Both of these results extend recent ones concerning the genus 0 case.