She’s no new broom but give Noirín a fair chance

IN THE normal course of events, when a woman rises to the top of a male-dominated profession, doubts are raised about her gender. How, the critics fret, will her femininity protect her against the tough challenges ahead and equip her for operating in a testosteronecharged environment?

It goes without saying that Noirín O’Sullivan’s appointment as Garda Commissioner attracted no such reservations. As macho working environments go, there are few to rival the Garda, yet it’s accepted that Ms O’Sullivan, pictured – who started out as an undercover cop on the Dublin drug scene – is as hardboiled as you’ll get. However, the controversy which her promotion has engendered is arguably as invidious as anything to do with sexism. According to the critics, Noirín O’Sullivan is not worthy of her exalted new status by virtue of her being an insider and only a new broom can transform the Garda Síochána into a 21st century police force.

So much for the honeymoon period most new appointees enjoy.

The crisis in the force has been well aired but many of the problems stem from a lack of resources rather than anything more sinister.

Ms O’Sullivan is an insider in so far as she was a high-flyer in the old, discredited regime. But her gender means that she also has an outsider’s perspective.

She may quietly have views that are radically different from her male colleagues who never had to smash through the glass ceiling in order to get ahead.

She may lead in a less authoritarian way than her predecessors and place more value on hard work and results. Or she might turn out to be just more of the same. But let’s just give her a chance.