New Supt appointed to Cavan station

Supt Callanan gets post in divisional shake up.

A new Superintendent, but a familiar face around these parts, has been appointed to Cavan Garda Station.

Superintendent John Callanan has been assigned to oversee policing operations out of the county town.

He previously served as inspector in Cavan, and as a garda in Monaghan for much of his career. In 2011, he was awarded a Monaghan People of the Year 'Emergency Services' award after risking his own life to save that of a young girl who got into difficulties at Lake Muckno.

Supt Callanan takes over from Superintendent Séan Grant who was assigned to Cavan back in October last year when former Cavan Supt Padraic Jones was elevated to lead the Garda National Community Engagement Bureau.

Supt Grant had shared his Cavan role with ongoing work investigating the circumstances behind the fatal explosion in Creeslough in Co Donegal last year. The blast at a building complex claimed the lives of 10 people and injured another eight.

Supt Callanan most recently worked as an inspector and later as superintendent in Drogheda, heading up several serious investigations into alleged gangland activity in the east coast region.

In March of this year he was promoted in charge of the Strategic Transformation Office (STO), which is responsible for the development and implementation of the Garda Modernisation & Renewal Programme.

His role in Cavan, post the December 3 divisional merger with neighbouring Louth, sees his new station assume specific responsibility for Community Engagement across the county.

The divisional headquarters of the merged three county policing area is now located at the Millennium Centre in Dundalk, with a crime hub established in Bailieborough; Performance Assurance in Carrickmacross; and Business Services located in Drogheda.

A new Cyber Crime unit will also be placed in Bailieborough when the new garda building is finally completed, expected early in the second quarter of 2024.