Governing council rejects former GRA president for €150k general secretary role

According to sources in the GRA, Garda Damien McCarthy did not reapply once the whole process had begun anew. File picture: Dylan Vaughan

A candidate selected in a professional process for the top job in the Garda Representative Association (GRA) was rejected by the body’s governing council, which included colleagues of his who had also applied for the job. 

Damien McCarthy, a former president of the GRA, was the successful candidate to emerge from a competition run by recruitment professionals Lansdowne for the €150,000-a-year job of general secretary of the organisation.