Medal for Garda Detective Sergeant Denis O'Brien who was ambushed by IRA gang at home in 1942
A Garda officer who was ambushed by the IRA outside his Dublin home in 1942 is among a number of officers who have been awarded medals for bravery.
Eight Scott medals, the highest honour that can be bestowed by the Garda Commissioner, were handed out to retired, deceased and serving gardai for their courage in Dublin yesterday (Monday).
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee were among those who attended the ceremony.
Of the eight medals, two have been awarded posthumously, including to a garda who was shot dead by the IRA.
Detective Sergeant Denis O'Brien was shot dead by the IRA on 9 September 1942.
He was shot dead by three IRA men in trench coats who lay in wait for him outside his family home at Rathfarnham in south Dublin.
Det Sgt O'Brien's granddaughter said it was a poignant and bittersweet day for her family. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Orla McKeown said it was a day for remembering, as she recalled that her grandfather loved sports, art, his garden, family gatherings and singsongs.
"We are so grateful that he is being honoured," she said. "It's poignant, it's bittersweet, but it's a day for remembering, and I think also we'd like to remember not just him, but his 88 fallen colleagues, also on the garda roll of honour."
Det Sgt O'Brien, who was known as Dinny to his family, was killed in an IRA ambush 82 years ago today. Ms McKeown said her mother and aunt lived with lifelong trauma following the death of their father. She added that her mother realised how important it was to remember her father and wrote down many stories about him.
"We are so glad she did," Ms McKeown said, and will be sharing them with family later today. Another Garda recognised was the late superintendent John Curtin who was ambushed and shot dead by gunmen at the gates of his home on 21 March 1931.
He was unarmed and had been threatened after he had brought a number of suspects before court in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, for paramilitary activity.
Garda Timothy McSweeney was recognised for tackling a man with a knife in a house on 24 March 2022, where a woman and children were in fear for their safety. He was stabbed a number of times but managed to detain the suspect.
After entering the house, Garda McSweeney was confronted by a man who was drunk and behaving aggressively in front of a woman, who was in fear for her life and those of her children.
"I received stab wounds to my hand and arm and tore my knee,” he told RTE.
Detective Garda Morgan Lahiffe was awarded a bronze Scott medal posthumously after he and another garda, Gerry O'Sullivan , tackled three armed men at a supermarket in Togher, Co Cork in August 1971.
Others who were awarded included Sergeant Kieran Flynn and Inspector Joseph Finnegan who rescued three people who got stuck during dangerous weather from a sea cave in 1997. The two gardai later located the bodies of two men who died in the incident.