DERMOT GALLAGHER, secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, is to retire in January.
One of Ireland’s most experienced civil servants, Mr Gallagher was a key figure behind the scenes in the negotiations leading to the Belfast Agreement.
He was also closely involved in subsequent efforts to ensure the establishment of a stable power-sharing administration in Northern Ireland.
He took up the position of secretary general in July 2001, having previously served as secretary general in the Department of the Taoiseach.
He was initially due to retire from the foreign affairs post four years ago, but stayed on at the request of the Government.
A native of Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, Dermot Anthony Gallagher (known as “Dag”) joined the diplomatic service in 1969. He spent the early years of his career in San Francisco, at the New York headquarters of the UN and in London. He was seconded to Brussels in the early 1980s as a deputy chef de cabinet with the European Commission.
He returned to the department and was later appointed ambassador to Nigeria.
He was Ireland’s envoy to Washington in the years 1991-1997 before returning to Dublin to head the Anglo-Irish Division, with the rank of second secretary general, in the lead-up to the Belfast Agreement.
He was chair of the committee which led the restoration of the Ballinamore-Ballyconnell Canal linking the Shannon and the Erne rivers and he initiated the restoration of the Battle of Boyne site, a gesture of reconciliation to the unionist community which earned the appreciation of Ian Paisley.
He is married with two daughters and one son.
Among those mentioned as a possible successor are the Irish Ambassador to France Anne Anderson, Ambassador Michael Collins in Washington, Ambassador David Cooney in London, permanent representative to the EU Bobby McDonagh, political director of the department Rory Montgomery and Brendan Rogers of Irish Aid.