THE FBI GRADUATE WHO WASN’T GOING TO BE A ‘SANDWICH RUN’ PATSY
WHEN Martin Callinan retired under deeply controversial circumstances in 2014, the appointment of a woman to replace him was, to some at least, a source of optimism that change was afoot.
Dubliner Nóirín O’Sullivan had become the first female to lead the force in its 92-year history.
The 56-year-old began her career at the age of 20 in 1981, when she was deployed to Store Street Garda station after completing her training in Templemore.
Since then, the mother of three has amassed professional policing experience across both operational and administrative function areas, and worked in a broad range of police disciplines at both national and international level. In 2000, she was promoted to superintendent and served in the Garda College with responsibility for specialist training and as a detective superintendent in the Garda National Drugs Unit.
She was promoted to chief superintendent in 2003, and served as detective chief superintendent at the Garda Technical Bureau and also in human resource management. By 2007, she had been promoted to assistant commissioner and served in the western region, followed by HR management and was appointed assistant commissioner of Crime and Security in June 2009.
She was promoted to Deputy Commissioner of Operations in 2011 and became commissioner on November 25, 2014. Ms O’Sullivan is a graduate of the FBI National Executive Institute’s law-enforcement course for police chiefs worldwide.
She also holds first-class honours qualifications in diploma and MA courses, in business and advanced management from the Michael Smurfit School of Business in UCD.
O’Sullivan has previously spoken about her experience of sexism in the early years of her career and said the gardaí ‘weren’t really sure what they were going to do’ with women at the time. She told the story of how she once feared she would be sacked after refusing to buy bread for sandwiches when she was an ‘enthusiastic young recruit’.
‘But when I arrived in Store Street – and it wasn’t the fault of anybody there – we had been through a phase where women first came into the force in 1959. ‘In [the 20 years since then], the organisation and indeed society weren’t really sure what they were going to do with women in a role such as policing.’
She recalled an incident where she was working overtime but was called back to base and asked to go to the Kylemore café on Talbot Street and buy some bread and ham to make sandwiches.
SHE refused and was sent home but was surprised to learn upon her return the next day that her stand had a positive impact after initially fearing she would be fired.
The superintendent told her he heard she had been discussing ideas with her colleagues.
Within a couple of weeks, she was part of the first ever undercover unit that tackled the capital’s rampant drug problem.
Nóirín O’Sullivan first attracted controversy in 2014 while acting as Garda Commissioner when it was reported that her online CV incorrectly suggested she had an honours degree in police management from the University of Limerick. Gardaí said an ‘editorial error’ meant her online biography failed to mention the course was run by the Garda College in Templemore, Co. Tipperary and accredited by Hetac, rather than the University of Limerick. After becoming a street drugs cop, she climbed the ranks to become one of two operational commanders in the National Drugs Unit. She played a part in the arrival of the ‘mockies’ within the gardaí, a unit which posed as drug addicts to tackle drug use on Irish streets.
O’Sullivan’s husband was promoted to chief superintendent last year.
Detective Superintendent Jim McGowan, who has worked in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, was among dozens of gardaí who went through the interview process.
She had previously defended her decision to assign him to a criminal investigation into contacts between a senior Garda officer and journalists.
Her son Ciarán McGowan, who works as a press photographer, qualified as a member of the Garda Reserve in 2013.