Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has been announced as the final guest for the 2022 Kennedy Summer School.
One of the highlights of the Kennedy Summer School is the public interview session which commemorates the life and legacy of the late Noel Whelan, one of the founders of the school. This year on Friday, September 9th, the Garda Commissioner will be interviewed.
Drew Harris was appointed as Garda Commissioner in September 2018 for a five-year term. At that time Commissioner Harris had 34 years of policing experience with the RUC and PSNI before joining An Garda Síochána.
In his current role as Commissioner of An Garda Síochána he has responsibility for both policing and State security for Ireland.
He was previously Deputy Chief Constable of the PSNI where he was specifically responsible for performance and change management.
He was also previously responsible for the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Crime Operations Department and is recognised as a national expert in dealing with high-risk covert policing operations and critical incidents. He was appointed in 2013 as a high-level expert to a European Parliament Committee reporting on organised crime and corruption.
He held the UK’s Association of Chief Police Officers Hate Crime portfolio for eight years, where he led on improving the criminal justice response to victims, improving detection rates and improving data collection.
As an Assistant Chief Constable, Mr Harris also led on PSNI initiatives where he took responsibility for the management of sex offenders and the introduction of Public Protection Units.
Public interview
Commissioner Harris will participate in the public interview with questions being posed by Kennedy Summer School director Sinead McSweeney.
The annual Kennedy Summer School is set to host a number of expert discussions and is billed as 'A Festival of Irish and American, History, Politics and Culture'.
There will be over 40 guest speakers, with the official opening taking place on Thursday, September 8th, by Ambassador Claire Cronin.
Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris will give the keynote address at this year's Speakers' Lunch.
US politician and grandson of Robert Kennedy, Joe Kennedy, will join the event remotely plus there are a host of politicians, political commentators and correspondents and leading global academics who will all join in the discussions billed for the annual Kennedy Summer School which is set to take place in New Ross, Co Wexford from September 8th-10th.
The 2022 summer school will focus on topical issues in Irish and US politics with leading expert speakers from both sides of the Atlantic along with a focus on Russia and Ukraine and their political impact.
The 2022 Kennedy Summer School programme of events and tickets are now available online at kennedysummerschool.ie or call St Michael’s Theatre on 051 421255.
