Garda chief ‘ill advised’ to put husband on probe team

The garda commissioner has been criticised for making an “ill-advised” decision by appointing her husband to investigate leaks to the media from gardaí.

Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan’s actions have been called into question amid separate concerns that journalists phones are being bugged by the force.

It emerged yesterday the garda chief appointed her husband, Det Supt Jim McGowan, to a team investigating alleged leaking of information to journalists. Based in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, he was assigned to the inquiry under a chief superintendent.