The Government has appointed current Garda Deputy Commissioner Justin Kelly to succeed Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, who is due to retire in the coming weeks.
Mr Kelly has been appointed to lead the Garda force after a recruitment process that began in May. The role carries a €314,512 salary.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan recommended Mr Kelly to his colleagues at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, where the appointment was confirmed.
In a statement, Mr O’Callaghan said he was “very pleased” the Government had accepted his recommendation.
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“The role of Garda Commissioner is one of the most challenging and impactful leadership positions in Ireland’s public service and the appointment process was suitably rigorous,” he said.
“I am satisfied that Justin Kelly is both qualified and particularly well suited to the role of Commissioner given his extensive leadership experience over the last 30 years in some of the most challenging issues facing An Garda Síochána including national security, domestic and sexual violence, and organised crime.”
A three-week recruitment campaign was held in May, including an international search for suitable applicants, which resulted in 14 candidates. The selection process included two interviews and a presentation by candidates as well as a detailed psychometric assessment.
Mr Harris is due to retire on September 1st, after seven years in the role.
Mr Kelly’s appointment will be a popular one across the Garda force as he has spent the majority of his policing career involved in crime investigation work, mostly combating drugs and organised crime. As a result, he is regarded as someone familiar with the pressures facing frontline gardaí.
A Dubliner, Mr Kelly joined An Garda Síochána as a recruit in the 1990s and has served, since last October, as deputy commissioner for ‘security, strategy and governance’.
Before that he was assistant commissioner in charge of the ‘serious and organised crime’ area of the Garda, including all the specialist units that tackle serious and for-profit crime.
He has been one of the key figures in the Garda leading and managing the investigations into the Kinahan cartel, including its leadership tier based in Dubai and its Irish operation, which was previously headed by Dubliner Liam Byrne.
In an interview with The Irish Times last year, Mr Kelly said the nature of Irish organised crime had changed, with far fewer gangland gun murders but significant co-operation around importing drugs.
He said he believed drugs gangs had seen how the Garda wiped out the Kinahan and Hutch groups in Dublin during the operation targeting their feud and had decided not to engage in feuding or gun murders for fear of being targeted in the same way.
Mr Kelly said although many people believed Irish crime groups were “competing with each other and these groups would kill each other on sight, that isn’t the way”.
Instead, Irish gangs were “coming together” to import drugs, or transit drugs through the country on to other final destinations.
Mr Harris offered his congratulations to Mr Kelly on being appointed to succed him, saying he has been a “dedicated and highly professional” member of the force for 30 years.
“Justin is an internationally-recognised police leader who has built coalitions with other law enforcement agencies and partners that have disrupted and dismantled trans-national organised crime gangs,” he said in a statement.
“Justin’s extensive experience and expertise in leading a wide-range of operational and organisational areas will be of immeasurable benefit to him as Commissioner.”
Ahead of the announcement, Garda Representative Association (GRA) general secretary Ronan Slevin said the key issues the new commissioner will have to address included retention, a morale crisis, the use of suspensions and discipline, and excessive bureaucracy.
When asked about the GRA’s lack of faith in Mr Harris, Mr Slevin said the outgoing commissioner had failed to address issues identified by the association over many years.
“He still is denying that there is a morale issue within An Garda Síochána. And I think that the resignation and retirement figures clearly demonstrate that there’s a serious morale issue within the workforce.”
He added: “You have a force that are in some way in fear of working because they know that if they make any form of a mistake they will be disciplined severely as a result of that, and that strangles the workforce in the environment that our workforce is in.”
