An
Garda Síochána is going through what is thought to be its biggest ever
management clear-out with around a fifth of its senior officers leaving this
year. The exodus is driven by a one-off Government severance package, with 36
top Garda managers having been accepted. This includes eight chief
superintendents, 26 superintendents, one assistant commissioner, and one senior
civilian. In addition, two assistant commissioners are also retiring on
mandatory age grounds, with Garda estimates suggesting that 14 other senior
officers are due to leave on age grounds — five chief superintendents and nine
superintendents. It is thought that there is very little overlap between the
two groups of departures, suggesting that, in total, around 50 senior officers
are set to leave the organisation.
The total
number at senior rank stands at 221 — 166 superintendents, 47 chief
superintendents, and eight assistant commissioners —suggesting that around 20%
of the senior ranks will be going this year.
Security sources
said there has not been such a clear-out since the first Fianna Fáil government
in 1932 or possibly since the foundation of the force in 1922.
“Even if you
just take the severance numbers, around 36, that scale of turnover has never
been seen before,” said one senior source.
‘Huge
loss’ for Garda security unit with departure of top officers
Garda
Commissioner Drew Harris chose the people under the severance package after
they formally applied for it.
The deal, which
has an estimated cost of around €6.5m this year, will provide the officers with
six months’ salary along with the normal pension entitlements and lump-sum
payments.
Half of the
officers will go in April, the other half expected to go in September, with the
latter group yet to be formally signed off.
The Government
introduced the severance package following a recommendation in the report of
the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, published in September
2018.
The Government
had originally set a target of some 30 senior officers to avail of the
severance package.
The full
details of who is taking the package have not yet been made available by Garda
HQ.
Assistant
Commissioner Pat Leahy, head of the Dublin Metropolitan Region, is taking the
package and is due to go in April. The Cobh man was in the final shake-up for
the current commissioner position in September 2018.
Two other senior assistant commissioners, Michael O’Sullivan (Security and
Intelligence) and John O’Driscoll (Special Crime Operations), are leaving on
mandatory retirement grounds this month and June, respectively.
All three
departures are seen as major losses for the organisation.
Chief
superintendents understood to be taking the severance package include Dominic
Hayes (Kilkenny-Carlow), Dave Dowling (Garda National Immigration Bureau), Tom
Maguire (Security and Intelligence), John O’Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan), and
Lorraine Wheatley (Dublin South Central).
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