At a meeting of Cabinet on Tuesday, the Irish Government approved an extension to the term of office for Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

Mr Harris, a former deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), took up the role in 2018.

His term in office had been due to expire next year.

He is the first garda commissioner to be appointed from outside the State.

He can now stay in his current role until the middle of 2025.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Harris said he was “delighted” by the Cabinet decision.

“It is a great privilege and honour to be Garda Commissioner,” he said.

“During the last four years, the organisation has made great progress in becoming an efficient and effective human-rights focused policing and security service.

“In particular, the work by Garda personnel during the Covid-19 pandemic was a real demonstration of the organisation’s commitment to keeping people safe through our ethos of policing by consent and in partnership with communities.

“However, while we have made many significant changes to the organisation in recent years, the pandemic also meant that we had to put on hold some of the elements of our reform programme that we had planned to introduce.

“I look forward to leading An Garda Siochana in providing the best possible policing and security service to the people of Ireland.”