A woman has been appointed to a senior position in the Garda for the first time.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, approved the appointment of Ms Catherine Clancy and Mr Noel Smith as Assistant Commissioners yesterday.
The appointments are to fill the vacancies that arose following the retirement in February of Assistant Commissioner Pat O'Toole and the appointment of Assistant Commissioner Fachtna Murphy to the rank of Deputy Commissioner in July.
Ms Clancy is the Chief Superintendent in charge of the Donegal Division. She joined An Garda Síochána on September 10th, 1975.
Since her first allocation in Dublin, she has served in Naas, the Garda Technical Bureau, Ballyshannon, Donegal, Cambodia (UN Duty), Community Relations, Dungarvan and Lucan.
The native of Co Donegal is currently based at Letterkenny.
Mr Smith is the Chief Superintendent in charge of Dublin Metropolitan Region South Division.