New Chief Fire Officer for Cavan

Cavan County Council has appointed a new Chief Fire Officer.

Former Senior Assistant Chief Fire Officer at Wicklow County Fire Service, Sinead Sweeney, has been allocated the role, taking over from Chief Fire Officer Noel O'Reilly who is CFO in Leitrim.

A welcome and congratulations was extended to Ms Sweeney at the July meeting of Cavan County Council by Sinn Féin's Damien Brady, who is also a member of Ballyconnell Fire Service.

He recounted how he completed a Station Officer's course in Bray alongside Ms Sweeney and had no doubt she would “carry on the legacy” set out by her predecessors in Cavan, including the late Val Maguire for whom tributes were paid at the same meeting.

Mr Maguire served as Chief Fire Officer in Cavan with great distinction from April 1972 until October 1998, and helped usher in a new era of professionalism, incorporating modern technology and training methods into the service.

Other councillors shared in the welcome, and Cathoirleach John Paul Feeley said that Ms Sweeney had been invited to the September council meeting to formally meet elected members.

She is following in some “distinguished footsteps” he said, with council Chief Executive Eoin Doyle stating that Ms Sweeney comes to Cavan with an “excellent reputation”.

“She is immensely qualified,” he continued, adding that Ms Sweeney had spoken highly of how the local fire service was so recognised for its hard work and dedication, not just within local authority ranks and the chamber, but by the wider public.

“We look forward to working with her.”