‘Jobs for boys’ jibe as 33 ex-officers re-hired by garda

13th March 2022

A retired assistant commissioner is among 33 former senior members of An Garda Siochána who have been re-hired for specialist work, new documents reveal.

Former assistant commissioner Michael O’Sullivan, previously head of garda security and intelligence, was engaged by the force from August 2020 to June 2021 to work as “chair/facilitator to the Westmanstown Rosters Working Group”, according to documents released to the Sunday Independent under the Freedom of Information Act.

The work he was engaged for relates to advising and developing garda rosters.

Mr O’Sullivan is the highest ranking officer among 33 former senior officers re-hired by An Garda Siochána for specialist work.

The second highest ranking officer is former chief superintendent Tony McLoughlin, who was hired in June 2021 and continues to work “on developing a policy to address online abuse of members via social media channels”.

The documents released to the Sunday Independent did not reveal how much the former officers were paid for their services, other than payment was based on a “fixed daily rate”.

An additional 31 retired superintendents were employed to “correct exam papers for the sergeants’ and inspectors’ promotions examinations”, according to the documents.

Former assistant commissioner Michael O’Sullivan retired in 2020. He oversaw the garda’s stance against threats from domestic and international terrorism.

The Kerry-born former officer led the garda’s involvement in the return of alleged Islamic State member Lisa Smith from Syria.

He also had responsibility for the liaison and protection section, was head of the Interpol and Europol units in Ireland and was a member of the Europol management board.

Mr O’Sullivan retired on age grounds. Gardaí must retire at 60, but can leave earlier if they have completed 30 years’ service

One security source described the re-hiring of senior gardaí as “jobs for the boys”, adding that “there are enough serving members who could and should be doing this work”. But another disagreed, saying former senior officers are forced into retirement when they still have a lot of offer the organisation.

Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond said he had “no issue” with former senior gardaí being re-hired. “I see no problem with it,” he said. 

“Just because someone retires, it doesn’t mean they don’t still have a lot to offer. I don’t see it as ‘jobs for the boys’, in fact you see it in many organisations. Maybe what this does expose is that we need to explore extending the garda retirement age.”

Mr Richmond added “maybe there should be more transparency” around former gardaí being rehired but said the “practice is a sound one”.

“I see it as smart of An Garda Siochána to retain that talent. It would free up serving gardaí for other duties. But perhaps it is time for the debate again on the retirement age for gardaí. Far too many capable men and women are being forced out of the organisation when they still have a lot to give and in many cases, want to stay working.”

In emerged in 2020 that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris began discussions with the Minister for Justice and the Policing Authority to raise the retirement age for senior officers.