Gardaí are in “recovery” mode after years of policing the Kinahan-Hutch feud, a Garda detective has said.

Daniel Kinahan, the head of the Kinahan organised crime group which is still one of Europe’s biggest drug trafficking cartels, was arrested in Dubai last Friday.

The 48-year-old, originally from Dublin, had been living in the United Arab Emirates for years. He was arrested on foot of an Irish arrest warrant after years of Garda investigations into the cartel.

Detective Garda Niall Hodgins broke down in tears at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) annual conference in Westport, Co Mayo, yesterday as he spoke about Kinahan’s arrest and the death of the senior officer who investigated the case.

“I’m getting a bit choked up here because for a long number of years members in my division, for a long number of years, about 10 in total, I think it’s poignant at this stage that you recognise the efforts of assistant commissioner John O’Driscoll in respect of this matter,” said Det Garda Hodgins.

He was a fantastic policeman and it’s such a shame that he wasn’t here to witness what happened last week. 

Det Garda Hodgins, who operates in Dublin’s Mountjoy Station, said officers who policed the bloody Kinahan-Hutch feud, which claimed 18 lives across Dublin North Central, are now recovering after years of fear and bloodshed.

“I want to commend the Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly and his team in this particular matter. But in respect of the members that I represent in respect of this feud for near on a decade there now, clearly they take away from them a sense of pride,” said Mr Hodgins.

We came through a very difficult period in the guards over the last number of years. 

“In fact I would say we’re in a state at the moment of ‘respair’, which is a recovery from a state of absolute despair in Dublin’s north inner city.

“What was required was resipiscence, which is a complete change of direction from where we were before. 

“We have hope, we look forward to what the new Garda Commissioner is going to bring and we will enjoy engaging with him.”

The Garda Commissioner and justice minister Jim O’Callaghan will be in attendance at the GRA conference today, Tuesday.

The GRA represents 11,000 rank-and-file gardaí in a force of approximately 14,500.