Aging misogynists across the globe, with memories of a time when the Garda Siochana police force in Ireland, north. south, east and west, was a male only establishment, got a shock at the start of the new year when they learned that a woman Garda had been appointed as the first female superintendent of the force's division in County Donegal.

Herself a native of Donegal, Superintendent Catherine Clancy brings years of experience in the service to her new post.

She joined the Garda Siochana (English translation "Guardians of the Peace") in 1975, and over the years served with a United Nations presence in Cambodia, and with the Garda Murder Detective Squad from 1980 to 1989.

A native of Portnoo, she spent previous stints in Donegal as a sergeant in Ballyshannon, and in Donegal Town.

Her breaching of the longtime gender tradition of male superintendents in the county is to be welcomed by Irish people at home and abroad, old bachelors excepted.