THE BRITISH man at the head of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has resigned from his position.
GSOC Chairman Simon O’Brien will leave the role on January 30, after little over three years in the post, and return to his family in London.
“I have been in Ireland for five years in two posts,” he explained while announcing his decision this month.
On February 2 he will take up a new role as Chief Executive of the Pensions Ombudsman Service in Britain.
“This is a significant opportunity and I am looking forward to the new challenge,” he added.
“The new post will bring me back home to be with my wife and young family in London.”
O’Brien, who was a Deputy to the Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate from March 2010, until taking up the Chairman position on December 12, 2011, formerly worked for the London Metropolitan Police Service.
A Chief Superintendent in the busy London boroughs of Enfield and Haringey for five years, he continued to rise through the ranks to be selected as a Chief Officer of Police before being appointed as a Commander in London - taking control of the eleven boroughs of North and East London and, after a year, assuming responsibility for all uniform patrol activity in the entire Metropolitan area.
Earlier this month he informed President Michael D Higgins and Ireland’s Minister for Justice of his intention to leave his GSOC position.
