The Irish Mail on Sunday

Gardaí refuse to say if taxpayer paying rent for new Commission­er

Harris lives in Phoenix Park HQ despite pay of €250,000

- By John Lee john.lee@mailonsund­ay.ie

TIGHT-LIPPED Justice chiefs have refused to say if the State accommodat­ion enjoyed by Garda Commission­er Drew Harris is provided on a rent-free basis.

The commission­er lives at Garda Headquarte­rs in the Phoenix Park.

But this week both An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice refused to answer whether he pays rent.

Commission­er Harris, 53, is on a €250,000 salary and has use of two armour-plated BMW jeeps, worth at least €600,000. It has also emerged that considerab­le resources have been allocated to provide the father of four with round-the-clock armed security at his Dublin living quarters.

The Commission­er’s wife and dog have moved to the capital. His four children are adults, and do not live with their parents.

But when asked this weekend about whether Commission­er Harris was paying any rent, a spokesman at the Garda Press Office would only say: ‘The Department of Justice are the Commission­er’s employers.’

Pressed further about the special arrangemen­ts that have been put in place for the Commission­er, the spokesman added: ‘For security reasons an Garda Síochána does not comment on the detail of the security arrangemen­ts for the Commission­er.’

A spokesman for the Department of Justice ignored the question.

Commission­er Harris is the first policeman from outside the State to be appointed Garda Commission­er. Up until his appointmen­t last year he was a serving member of Northern Ireland’s police force, the PSNI.

The Commission­er is deemed to be under threat from dissident republican and loyalist paramilita­ries. His father Alwyn was killed in an IRA car bomb.

Mr Harris Sr was killed on his way to a church service in 1989 while he was a serving member of the then-Northern Ireland police force, the RUC.

Speaking about this threat, he told The Sunday Times last September: ‘The reality of my policing career is that I’ve been under threat from both republican and loyalist groups. What am I to do? Am I to say, “OK, well, I’m going to throw the towel in and retreat from public life and it will simmer down”?

‘I’ve chosen not to do that. I’ve chosen to serve and do my public duty in both Northern Ireland and here.’

He was speaking shortly after he was sworn in as Commission­er last September.

His appointmen­t caused considerab­le controvers­y, with some former senior gardaí and army

He has round-the-clock security at quarters ‘I’ve chosen to serve and do my public duty’

officers questionin­g how, given Mr Harris’s previous allegiance to an external police force, he would deal with highly classified material and, in particular, sensitive informatio­n about dissident republican­s.

Furthermor­e, at the Smithwick Tribunal – which investigat­ed the killing of senior RUC officers, Harry Breen and Robert Buchanan, after they crossed from the Republic into Northern Ireland after meeting with gardaí in 1989 – Mr Harris claimed there had been collusion between some gardaí and the IRA.

Meanwhile, the bulletproo­f BMW X5 jeeps in which he travels were bought around the time of Mr Harris’s appointzme­nt last year.

And since then, two high- spec Audi A6 cars used by Commission­er Harris’s predecesso­rs Nóirín O’Sullivan and Martin Callinan, have lain idle at Headquarte­rs.

 ??  ?? caMe WITh JoB: Mr Harris makes his way to one of his two BMW X5 jeeps, worth a total of at least €600,000
caMe WITh JoB: Mr Harris makes his way to one of his two BMW X5 jeeps, worth a total of at least €600,000
 ??  ?? PRIoR PeRKS: Callinan, left, and O’Sullivan both had luxury Audi A6 cars when they held post
PRIoR PeRKS: Callinan, left, and O’Sullivan both had luxury Audi A6 cars when they held post
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