{"id":871842,"date":"2025-09-10T00:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T05:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/10\/garda-commissioner-drew-harris-never-liked-being-described-as-outsider-in-the-force\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T00:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T05:13:10","slug":"garda-commissioner-drew-harris-never-liked-being-described-as-outsider-in-the-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/10\/garda-commissioner-drew-harris-never-liked-being-described-as-outsider-in-the-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Garda Commissioner Drew Harris \u2018never liked\u2019 being described as \u2018outsider\u2019 in the force"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retiring Garda Commissioner Drew Harris<\/a> said he always resented the idea that he was regarded as an \u201coutsider\u201d when he joined An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Mr Harris described it as \u201can odd expression to apply to an individual who is Irish and I never liked it\u201d. He said he does not regret \u201cone minute\u201d of his seven years in the role. <\/p>\n

He was present for his last Garda attestation ceremony, which took place at the Garda College in Templemore on Friday afternoon with 154 new members joining the ranks of the force. He is due to retire on September 1st. <\/p>\n

Mr Harris was the first policeman from outside An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na to become commissioner when he assumed the role in September 2018. <\/p>\n

\n

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Much was made at the time of his role as a former member of the RUC<\/a> and then as a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI<\/a>), where he rose to the role of deputy chief constable. His father Alwyn Harris, a senior RUC officer, was murdered by the Provisional IRA<\/a> in 1989. <\/p>\n

When asked whether he felt his successor, Justin Kelly<\/a>, will get an easier time because he is coming from within the force, the outgoing commissioner said his own experience after taking up his Dublin-based role after 34 years experience in policing was very positive. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was here, I was welcomed immediately. I got to understand the organisation very quickly and there was work I wanted to do very quickly,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were reforms that had to be delivered. My overall experience has been extremely positive. I\u2019m very glad I put my application form in.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said he believed the force\u2019s performance has improved in terms of tackling crimes such as sexual abuse and human trafficking. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur response to that has been very positive and very professional. We are seeing the organisation growing again, which is a good thing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody who is in An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na is part of a broader family and we are all there to support each other. We get a lot of political support.\u201d <\/p>\n

When asked whether he believed corruption was systemic within the force, he said there would inevitably be corruption in an organisation as big as An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na, but it was not systemic. <\/p>\n

The addition of 154 new recruits on Friday brings the strength of the force to 14,408, with 3,672 additional Garda civilian staff and 296 Garda reserves. <\/p>\n

A further 369 Garda recruits are in training to enter the Garda College. The next intake of 253 recruits start on Monday. <\/p>\n

Five recruits who were due to attest on Friday were suspended after they allegedly handcuffed and then threw another recruit into a shower.<\/p>\n

Mr Harris said the incident was an \u201caberration\u201d and the standard of recruits in Templemore College is \u201cvery high\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIndividuals in An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na are joining a service which requires a level of discipline. Standards are high here in the college. <\/p>\n

Mr Harris said standards would be high in the stations the garda\u00ed would go to as well and \u201cthat is to be expected, that\u2019s part of this job. They are there to provide professional and competent service to the public.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ronan McGreevy
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retiring Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said he always resented the idea that he was regarded as an \u201coutsider\u201d when he joined An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na. Mr Harris described it as \u201can odd expression to apply to an individual who is Irish and I never liked it\u201d. He said he does not regret \u201cone minute\u201d of his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":871843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26588,50288],"tags":[15806,50285],"class_list":{"0":"post-871842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commissioner","8":"category-garda","9":"tag-commissioner","10":"tag-garda"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}