Lebanon: Deputy Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, who has been appointed to head the UN investigation into the killing of the former prime minister of the Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, is the joint second highest officer in An Garda Síochána, along with Deputy Commissioner Fachtna Murphy.
He was appointed to his current position in April 1998 and is responsible for strategic and resource management throughout the force.
He has spent most of his service in the Dublin Metropolitan Region. In recent years he has amassed considerable experience working overseas for the United Nations. Through this work he has developed a close friendship with the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan.
Mr Fitzgerald served in Namibia in 1989 and 1990 and in Cambodia in 1992 and 1993, as chief of operations of the UN civilian police. He also served as a UN police adviser on planning for a UN mission to El Salvador in 1991. In January 1996 he was appointed commissioner of the UN's International Police Task Force. He served as commissioner in Bosnia up to February 1997.
Last year he and Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty carried out a review of security in Iraq on behalf of the UN following the bombing of a UN compound in Baghdad.
He first joined An Garda Síochána in 1964. He served as a garda at Pearse Street in Dublin and was later promoted to sergeant at the city centre station. He served as an inspector in Fitzgibbon Street and later as a superintendent in Sligo. He returned to the Dublin Metropolitan Region upon appointment as chief superintendent and was later appointed assistant commissioner.
He is from Tramore, Co Waterford.
