King of quiet thrust into spotlight

NOEL CONROY didn’t have much time to savour his appointment as incoming Garda Commissioner last May before reality soured the moment.

Three days after Justice Minister Michael McDowell announced his elevation to the highest office in the force, the same Minister brought him back down to earth by publicly demanding a full report from him on how a bunch of heroin addicts could be photographed by an apartment dweller in Temple Bar shooting up in broad daylight while gardai issued parking tickets yards away.

But it would take a lot more than an incident of bad timing to faze the 60-year-old Mayo man who has already given two-thirds of his life to a job where predictability is a luxury.