Martin Callinan

Early life

Callinan was born in Dublin and his father was from Galway and owned a shop in Drumcondra.

Career

Callinan joined the Gardaí in 1973 and became a sergeant thirteen years later.

He served in Waterford, Blanchardstown, Cabra, Pearse Street, Terenure, Swinford, the former Central Detective Unit, Crime and Security Branch and Special Detective Unit at Garda Headquarters.

He was a member of the "Tango Squad" that carried out round-the-clock surveillance of Martin Cahill. He was also involved in the investigation of the murder of Veronica Guerin.

He was the lead investigator into the Real IRA, who were responsible for the Omagh bombing.

He headed Garda reviews after the publication of the reports of the Ryan and Murphy reports.

He was appointed assistant commissioner of the National Support Services in 2005 - which had under its remit the; National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, National Drugs Unit, Bureau of Fraud Investigation and Criminal Assets Bureau - before becoming deputy commissioner in January 2007, in charge of Strategy and Change Management and in November 2007 was assigned to Operations, where he has been responsible for all operational policing and national security issues, and was appointed commissioner in December 2010.

After becoming commissioner, he oversaw the closure of a hundred Garda stations and faced criticism for it. Other controversies involved criticism of Garda handling of informant Kieran Boylan and the Smithwick Tribunal.

When the award-winning journalist Gemma O'Doherty pursued Callinan about having penalty points cancelled on his driving license she was made compulsorily redundant within weeks by her employer Independent News & Media.

Views on whistleblowing

Callinan's views on whistleblowing became publicly known when two members of the force brought to the attention of members of Dáil Éireann that senior Gardaí had inappropriately wiped penalty points from driving licences. The whistleblowers, Maurice McCabe and John Wilson, made their allegations to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee. When Martin Callinan appeared before the Public Accounts Committee he described the actions of the men as "disgusting". Following these comments a report by the Independent Garda Inspectorate described a consistent and widespread pattern of breaches of policy by those administering the system. In March 2014, Martin Callinan announced his retirement, earlier than had been expected. Around the same time the early retirement of Chief Superintendent Kevin Donohoe, head of Special Branch (SDU), was also made known. Weeks later, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter announced his resignation.

Callinan's resignation coincided with the outbreak of two other scandals; allegations that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) was under surveillance by an unknown group which had used "government-level technology" following a counter-surveillance operation undertaken by a British private security firm, and the emergence that phone calls in Garda stations throughout the country had been recorded on a mass scale for over 30 years before the practice was brought to an end. The government in April 2014 established a commission of investigation into Callinan's resignation and these other issues. It is commonly called the Fennelly Commission after its sole member, Nial Fennelly, a retired justice of the Supreme Court. In September 2015, the commission issued an interim report relating to Callinan's retirement.

Deputy Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan replaced Callinan as the Garda Commissioner.