Mark Toland

Mr Mark Toland was appointed Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate in November, 2017. Prior to being appointed Chief Inspector, Mark served as a Commissioner at the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission between 2016 and 2017and during that time he led a comprehensive whole of organisation review.

Mark previously served as a Deputy Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate from June 2012, a position he held for four and a half years. During that time, he was the lead inspector for several important inspections including the Crime Investigation, Changing Policing in Ireland and Responding to Child Sexual Abuse reports.

He joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1980 where he served for 30 years prior to relocating to Ireland with his family in 2010. At one stage he was responsible for training student officers and managing in excess of 4,000 new recruit officers.

As Chief Superintendent, he spent a total of seven years managing three busy, diverse and challenging London boroughs. While at one of these boroughs, Brent, he led several major undercover operations that dismantled organised criminal gangs that were involved in serious crime. During his career he was also responsible for the security and policing of large scale public order events at Wembley Stadium, Lords Cricket Ground and Twickenham Rugby Stadium.

Mark is passionate about helping the Garda Síochána to enable them to deliver excellent policing services across Ireland, and in particular, to ensure that they protect the most vulnerable and those at most risk of harm.

In 2010 Mark was awarded the Queens Police Medal for distinguished police service. He was awarded a Diploma in Achieving Business Excellence from Newcastle College and completed a research course at Cambridge University.