by Micheál Ó Síocháin
The 26-county state has announced Justin Kelly as the new Garda Commissioner, set to replace MI5 spook Drew Harris in September. But who is Justin Kelly?
According to the bourgeois media, Kelly is “highly respected” within the force and described as “the rank and file’s man.” He was one of 14 candidates interviewed for the role, several of whom came from international or non-Garda policing backgrounds, much like his predecessor Harris, who was recruited from the PSNI. Garda morale is reportedly “significantly boosted” following the announcement.
An Irish Times profile highlights Kelly’s polished career, beginning in Clondalkin barracks and rising through the ranks with key roles in the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. He also served as Assistant Commissioner and completed a UN deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Assistant Commissioner Kelly does seem like the perfect fit to head the protectors of property and profit in the south of our island. One aspect of Kelly’s prestigious CV that the Irish Times article conveniently glosses over is his position between 2020 and 2022, as Detective Chief Superintendent heading the Special Detective Unit, formally and commonly known as the Special Branch. This unit is the political police force of the 26-county state, which is tasked primarily with suppressing political forces identified as threats to the security of the state. Republicans have faced the brunt of this repression since the Branch’s founding, but communists and other left-wing activists have also not escaped their politically motivated operations.
This revelation of Kelly’s Special Branch extraction will come as no surprise to Communists and Republicans. The Special Branch’s heavy-handed political policing of those that oppose capitalism and imperialism continues to this day, with special war-time legislation still in use as a typical weapon of political repression by the state and their police force. Kelly’s appointment, fresh out of the Special Branch, signals more of the same for the Gardaí. Clearly, they’re still afraid of the organised working class.
At a time when fascist and far-right violence is on the rise, it’s worth asking, how often do you see Special Branch officers taking names at far-right protests? Rather than focusing their efforts on those who threaten the vulnerable and marginalised, who ultimately pose no threat to the ruling class, the state continues to prioritise the persecution and surveillance of left-wing activists.
Though Kelly is being presented in the bourgeois media as someone who will prioritise “local” and “community” policing, we know what that really means. For us Communists, there’s no illusion: his role, like those before him, will be to protect the property and profits of the capitalist class and certainly not the people.