New garda commissioner: Two deputy bosses ‘battle it out’ for top job

Commissioner Drew Harris will leave the role on September 1.

The Garda’s two deputy commissioners will fight it out next week in the final round of interviews to see who will be the next commissioner.

The Irish Examiner understands there is also one or possibly two external candidates, though their identities are not known outside a very small circle.

The four-person interview panel is made up of a member of the recently created Garda Board, two senior civil servants — one from the Department of Justice — and an external policing expert, believed to be a retired British chief constable.

The panel will make its recommendation to justice minister Jim O’Callaghan, who will bring it to Cabinet by the end of the month. The minister has previously indicated that the person would take charge on September 1.

Commissioner Drew Harris had been expected to retire in June but was asked by the Government to stay on until then.

The final round next week is the last stage of a process that included an initial interview, an online questionnaire, a presentation at an assessment centre, followed by another interview.

Shawna Coxon, Deputy Commissioner Operations, and Justin Kelly, Deputy Commissioner Security, Strategy and Governance, are through to the final round next week.

It is believed that one external candidate is also taking part in the last round, with some suggestions that a second external candidate may also be through.

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Garda sources have previously expressed a strong preference against an external candidate again (Drew Harris came from the PSNI), citing the effect it would have internally, particularly among senior ranks.

One senior source said: “It depends on your perspective, really, as to who should get the job. From the Government’s, they might think they’ve gone from a difficult period, of being mauled by controversies and scandals in the media and tribunals, to a honeymoon under Drew Harris – at least in terms of no major scandals. So that might mean they might go again for an outside candidate.

“But, internally the mood is very bad. It’s rarely been as bad as it has in recent years. People are fed up, for all sorts of reasons, but they all want the job to go internally, to a garda.”