Galway Bay fm newsroom - Carna-native, Dónall Ó Cualáin has taken up the role of acting Garda Commissioner following Nóirín Ó Sullivan's shock retirement last night. (10/9)
The fluent-Irish speaker was previously a sergeant on the Aran Islands before becoming a Superintendent and subsequently Chief Superintendent of the Galway garda division.
In 2012 he was appointed as an assistant commissioner and two years later Nóirín Ó Sullivan appointed him as deputy commissioner.
Dónall Ó Cualáin has already been covering the commissioner role for the summer holiday period while Nóirín Ó Sullivan was on leave.
She announced her retirement last evening, saying her job had become an unending cycle of public hearings and responding to inaccurate commentary.
The first ever female lead had been facing calls to step down after a number of controversies in the force, including the breath test and whistleblower scandals.
Antoinette Cunningham, President of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, says whoever takes the top job will still have to deal with the problems in the organisation.
