Garda Commissioner admits he’s a fan of Love/Hate

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan has said he is a fan of the hit RTÉ crime series Love/Hate but insisted he would leave it to the public to decide if the portrayal of the Garda in the just concluded fourth series was accurate.

He also said the issue of Garda members appearing in the show was still under review.

A major role in the drama by Det Garda Kieran Reilly of the Garda National Drugs Unit portraying a detective investigating a drugs gang has been contentious.

Some senior officers are uncomfortable with Det Garda Reilly playing a character whose work so closely mirrors his own work in the force.

"I'm no different to the million plus viewers that looked at Love/Hate," Commissioner Callinan said when asked about the show while speaking to the media at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary today.

He suggested the controversy over serving Garda members appearing in the show meant he perhaps had a different reason to watch the series compared to other viewers.

"But it's a drama, it's obviously very successful. I have no difficult at all with members of An Garda Síochána being part of dramatic societies and things of that nature."

“But there are issues surrounding this particular show and there’s a superintendent looking at those issues at the moment. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to speak any further on that subject until such time the superintendent completes his business.”

He declined to be drawn on whether that review would result in disciplinary action against individual gardai or if a new policy might be formulated.

Asked if the team of detectives who appeared in the latest series accurately portrayed real life detectives investigating organised crime he said: “I’ll leave that to yourselves and the general public.”