The new head of the Garda Siochana in the Dublin Metropolitan Area is Assistant Commissioner Jim McHugh, it was announced last night. He replaces Mr Tom King, who resigned to take up a position in the private sector.
Mr McHugh was commander of the South-East Region, based in Kilkenny, where he has served for almost two years.
He has led a number of highprofile Garda investigations, including cases involving leaks of Government documents and allegations of corruption in the planning process in Dublin.
He was recently appointed by the Garda Commissioner, Mr Patrick Byrne, to oversee an internal investigation into the conduct of the case against a man who is charged with murdering one of the two elderly women patients, who were stabbed to death at Grangegorman psychiatric hospital in Dublin earlier this year.
The internal investigation was ordered after it emerged that a second man, in custody on other very serious offences, made a detailed confession of the two murders at Grangegorman.
Mr McHugh has served for most of his career in central Dublin stations including Pearse Street and Fitzgibbon Street. He joined the force in 1963 and is married with five daughters. He is 56.