by Louise Doyle
GORETTI Sheridan will take up her new role as Donegal’s new Garda Chief Superintendent today.
Having served as Superintendent of Letterkenny District, the Rathmullan woman will be the first locally-based Chief Superintendent since Donegal became a standalone Garda division last year.
There had been plans to amalgamate the Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim divisions with Chief Superintendent Aidan Glacken overseeing all three since the retirement of Chief Superintendent Terry McGinn in late 2022.
A proposal to amalgamate Donegal into a three-county Division with Sligo and Leitrim was shelved following a review by senior Gardaí.
The review was requested by the Garda Commissioner and conducted by an Assistant Commissioner, the Garda Senior Leadership Team has decided to re-configure the composition of certain three-county Divisions under the Garda Operating Model.
Senior Gardaí in Donegal, as well as the Donegal Public Participation Network (PPN), who represent 653 community groups across the county, had urged the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, to keep Donegal as a stand-alone Division.
Subsequently, plans to amalgamate Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim into one ‘super division’ were shelved.
In a wide-ranging interview with this newspaper in August of last year coinciding with her 30th year in the force, Ms Sheridan, the then Superintendent of Letterkenny District had said “the decision to continue the garda division as a standalone was the right one”.
She said: “An assessment was carried out and the outcome was the best one, given out outlining as a vast county and one which borders Northern Ireland and has a substantial coastline. It was the right decision.”
Having joined An Garda Síochána on August 23, 1993, she spent nine years as a sergeant before being made an inspector in Letterkenny in 2013.
A promotion to the rank of Superintendent followed six years later. After a time in Castlerea, she returned to Donegal to take up a role in Buncrana District.
In January of last year, she was appointed to replace the retired Superintendent Michael Finan in Letterkenny.
Asked about gardaí recruitment and resources, she had said: “We have to work with the garda resources we have. Recruitment is an issue across the board at the minute. When I joined the gardaí it was seen as a job for life, but that is not the mind set among young people nowadays. People shift jobs throughout their working career more than they did.”
In July 2023 packages thought to contain 60kg of cocaine worth €4m were washed up on Ballyhiernan Beach in Fanad and Tramore Beach in Dunfanaghy.
The then Supt. had said a new specialised drugs unit under consideration as part of a major overhaul of the county’s policing would give gardaí more resources to double down on crime.
“Drugs are a huge issue in every town and city in the country, and Letterkenny and the wider Donegal area is no different. Donegal is unique, it borders with Northern Ireland and that is an extreme challenge for us.
“Years ago, the likes of cocaine was seen as a rich man’s drug but it is now seen as more accessible. It is no longer seen as an affluent drug. At the minute we are in the process of formalising a drug unit for County Donegal. The competition is ongoing,” she had said.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)