New Garda commissioner Kelly, the Dubliner known for tackling organised crime

The new Garda commissioner Justin Kelly, who will take up the role in September, is best known for his responsibility in tackling organised crime.

The Dubliner has more than 30 years of policing experience under his belt and several academic achievements.

An assistant commissioner for two years, he was responsible for An Garda Siochana’s response to areas such as drugs and organised crime, cybercrime, economic crime, immigration and crimes against vulnerable persons.

He also helped develop capacity and organisational policy in areas connected with serious crime investigation.

In 2024, he spoke at Europol’s headquarters in The Hague about the infiltration of the encrypted communication tool Ghost which was used for criminal activities worldwide.

Speaking earlier this year, Mr Kelly said the gardai would be “absolutely relentless” in their pursuit of organised crime gangs.

“It doesn’t matter where in the world they are, we will seek to have them extradited back to Ireland,” he told reporters.

He was appointed as deputy commissioner with responsibility for security and governance last year.

He was a detective chief superintendent from 2020 to 2022, leading the Operational Counter-Terrorism Unit.

He was previously detective superintendent at the Garda National Protective Services Bureau; a detective inspector at the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, and a frontline inspector in the Blanchardstown and Clondalkin areas of Dublin.

In 2001, he was seconded to work for the United Nations in Bosnia Herzegovina, where he worked monitoring and building the capacity of local law enforcement.

He was the recipient of the McCabe Fellowship in 2009 and received a first class honours in an MA in Criminal Justice at John Jay College in New York.

He also completed an MS in serious crime investigation at the University of Limerick in 2019 and a four-month senior police leadership programme at the College of Policing in Durham in 2020.

His five-year term as commissioner will see him on a salary of 314,512 euro.