I’m Irish, not an outsider, says new Commissioner

NEW Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has described himself as Irish – and is not sure how much of an outsider he is in taking charge of the force.

He described himself as a police officer from the island of Ireland, who had worked closely previously as a senior PSNI officer with members of An Garda Síochána.

In his first press conference after taking up office, the Garda Commissioner promised his force he was prepared to stand up to the politicians and make a case for extra resources.

But he firstly must be satisfied the organisation is spending the current budget well and making proper use of the resources available to it.

He said yesterday that he intended to carry out a full review of whether those resources were being implemented efficiently and it was too early to say whether more money was needed until that review had been completed.

But in response to a question about standing up to politicians, he said he would “speak truth to power”.

The use of resources and his priority to protect the vulnerable in society were the dominant themes as he spelled out his plans for his five-year term as the commissioner.

But he also addressed some of the questions from his past and defended his role at the Smithwick Tribunal into allegations of collusion between an unnamed member of the Garda and the Provisional IRA, leading to the murder of two senior RUC officers, Harry Breen and Bob Buchanan, as they drove back across the Border from a meeting at Dundalk station.

He said he had given evidence, which was examined by the tribunal, and he was then subject to cross-examination before Judge Peter Smithwick weighed the evidence and drew his own conclusions.

Mr Harris said he accepted those conclusions.

He said he understood that the conclusions might have caused hurt to gardaí based in Dundalk and elsewhere.

But he recognised that the vast majority of officers were “of great integrity and bravery in the Border area. I was stationed in the Border area myself and worked very closely with gardaí,” he added.

Throughout his policing career, he said, he had been aware of the need for impartiality and he had brought many loyalist terrorists to justice and secured convictions against them.

Asked about his role in overall charge of intelligence in the PSNI, he said he did not now have any intelligence that he had not already shared with gardaí.

He said there had been very good cross-Border co-operation and that had resulted in the prevention of some terror- ist outrages and also dealt with very serious organised crime.

He said the Garda was a well-resourced force and he intended to carry out a full review of whether these resources were being implemented efficiently.

Before deciding on future resourcing, he had to be satisfied if the current budget was being spent correctly and used in the best way possible.

He acknowledged Brexit would pose a challenge as the existing criminal justice treaties would disappear. He was anxious to co-operate with the PSNI to secure the Border and prevent any potential increase in activities from organised crime or terror gangs.