A fantastic detective and a lovely person..

Deirdre sleeping when blaze started |  ‘All she wanted was a simple life’

- JOHN HAND and MICHAEL O'TOOLE

A HIGHLY-regarded Detective Garda was tragically killed in a boat fire yesterday morning.

Deirdre Finn died despite the best efforts of the emergency services in Carrick-On-Shannon, Co Leitrim, after a passerby raised the alarm.

It's understood she had been sleeping when the blaze broke out after 7am.

Det Gda Finn had been in the Carrick-On-Shannon area in recent days and had socialised with friends there.

Colleagues were left stunned as news spread of her death yesterday.

It is understood she owned the boat and it was not a rental.

Det Gda Finn was a well-respected investigator whose father had been a senior member of the force.

She had nearly 30 years' service and was close to retirement.

In her career, she worked for the Garda Organised Crime Unit.

She went on to serve in the DMR South, where she worked on a number of sexual assault cases and was based in Dun Laoghaire station at the time of her passing.