Commissioner O’Sullivan resigns: A real challenge for all of society

YESTERDAY afternoon’s announcement from Noírín O’Sullivan that she would resign from her position as Garda commissioner with immediate effect was probably greeted more with relief rather than surprise in government circles.

Some politicians may even have thought of Henry II’s line about Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury offered nearly a millennium ago — “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” — and uttered a sigh of relief. That would have been a dreadful, crisis-perpetuating misjudgement.

Ms O’Sullivan’s resignation cannot be regarded as a victory of any kind much less the closing act in the grand litany of scandal hollowing out our police force and, in turn, the reliability and integrity of our public life. Rather, it is another sad symptom of the dysfunction, the circle-the-wagons culture that resents accountability or democratic oversight that has so diminished a force that was once held in such high regard all across this country.