Two well-known Munster gardaí promoted to the top ranks

TWO well-known gardaí serving in Cork and Limerick have been promoted to the rank of assistant Garda commissioner.

The announcement was made yesterday that chief superintendents Kevin Ludlow and Willie Keane were two of four new appointments to the senior ranks of the Garda force.

Chief Supt Ludlow, who was born in Drumconrath, Co Meath, has served in the force for the past 35 years.

His first posting was to Harcourt Terrace Garda Station in Dublin and while in the capital he served with the Crime Task Force. Most of his service was spent at the Garda Training College in Templemore, Co Tipperary, where, as part of a team, he helped modernise training for all ranks. In 1980, he went to the college as a sergeant and subsequently as a superintendent was appointed to take charge of student training.

He stayed in Templemore until 1995, when he left for a three-year spell as superintendent in Nenagh.

That was followed by a further year as superintendent in Thurles, before he was appointed chief superintendent and returned to the Garda college as director of training.

In March 2005 chief supt Ludlow took charge of the Cork City Garda Division.

He is married with two daughters and lives in Templemore.

“I am very honoured by the appointment and I want to pay credit to the team that is around me,” the new assistant commissioner said.

Chief Supt Willie Keane, who is a native of Newmarket, Co Cork, has spent most of his career in Limerick since joining the force in 1975. He has been at the fore in combating violent feuding, which has claimed 10 lives in the city since 2000.

Chief Supt Keane successfully got extra Garda resources deployed to the city through specialist units and uniformed members of the force.

There are more than 600 gardaí — an all-time high — in the Limerick division.

As well as Limerick he served in Leitrim, Cavan, Kerry and Dublin.

For a period he headed the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation with the rank of detective chief superintendent.

Chief Supt Keane, who is married with two daughters, has been credited with spearheading the huge reduction in serious crime in Limerick since the beginning of the year.

When he was stationed in Fenit, Co Kerry, in 1980 he rescued a mother and her daughter when fire engulfed a house resulting in the deaths of the father and their five other children.

Both men will not be officially informed of their new postings until later this week.