THE FORMER secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs Dermot Gallagher has been appointed chairman of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.
Mr Gallagher replaces Mr Justice Kevin Haugh who died last week. The appointment was approved by Cabinet and formally announced yesterday.
The process of replacing Mr Justice Haugh had begun some months ago because he had signalled to Government last September that he wished to return to the bench. Mr Justice Haugh was in his final days as the commission chairman when he died suddenly at his Dublin home last Thursday.
Mr Gallagher assumes the chairmanship of commission, which investigates complaints against gardaí, less than a fortnight after retiring as secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, who worked closely with Mr Gallagher in the Department of Foreign Affairs, said the chairmanship of the commission was a key position in the field of policing.
“The Government has chosen someone with a long track record of distinguished service to the State,” Mr Ahern said.
The two other members of the commission, Conor Brady and Carmel Foley, welcomed Mr Gallagher’s appointment and said they looked forward to working with him.
"In our respective former lives, his as secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs and mine as editor of The Irish Times, we have had many dealings of a productive and cordial nature," said Mr Brady
“Dermot is known to be an energetic leader. He brings a wealth of experience,” Ms Foley said.
Because he retired, Mr Gallagher is limited in what he can earn now that he has decided to resume working. It is understood he has agreed to take on the commission role for around €150,000, or half a secretary general’s salary.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has expressed its disappointment at the manner of Mr Gallagher’s appointment.
Council director Mark Kelly said the Government had chosen to fill the post “without the open and transparent recruitment process” expected for an agency like the Garda Ombudsman Commission, which was charged with scrutinising An Garda Síochána.
Mr Gallagher joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1969. He served in San Francisco, at the United Nations in New York, and in London, Nigeria and Brussels.
From 1997 to 2000 he was second secretary general at the Department of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for British-Irish relations, including Northern Ireland policy and the negotiation and implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.
He was secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach between 2000 and 2001 before moving back to the Department of Foreign Affairs at the same level.