Bravery medal awarded to Irish police officer shot by the IRA during Garda response to abduction of businessman Don Tidey

A bronze medal was posthumously awarded to Sergeant Daniel Kelleher at a ceremony yesterday (Friday).

Mr Tidey was in his 23rd day of captivity when Garda members and army personnel carried out a search of Drumcroman Wood in Co Leitrim and an IRA hideout was discovered.

Detective Garda Kelleher provided armed cover to Gardai who were escorting Mr Tidey to safety.

As he did, a car approached him at high speed and a number of shots were fired by the occupants of the car, resulting him being shot and injured in both legs.

Bronze bravery medals were also awarded to Sergeant PJ Gallagher and Garda Thomas McGuiness for their bravery during their abduction in October 1983.

They were on patrol in Aughamore Far, Co Sligo when they came across a number of vehicles parked in a rural layby late at night, which was unusual.

The two Gardai were approached by armed men and bundled into two vehicles before being moved to a second hijacked car and driven to Kilnaleck, Co Cavan where the car was abandoned.

They then released themselves from the boot of the car and raised the alarm.

A gold bravery medal was also awarded posthumously to Inspector Sam Donegan, who was killed in June 1972 after responding to suspect devices along the Cavan-Fermanagh border.

He had assessed one device as a hoax before the second detonated as he examined it.

Bravery medals were also awarded to four serving Gardai who responded to a man who fired shots indiscriminately in a Co Donegal town in February 2020.

They are among the 11 recipients of the Scott Medal, the highest award the Garda Commissioner can bestow, at the ceremony in Dublin.

Sergeant Edward Griffin, Detective Garda Darren Carter, Detective Garda Enda Jennings and Garda Louis Browne were awarded Silver Scott Medals for their bravery in apprehending the man armed with a high-powered rifle and who fired at homes, cars and Gardai in the Glenties in Co Donegal on the night in question.

Silver bravery medals were awarded to three Gardai who apprehended an armed man in a bathroom in Ballymun, Dublin in March 2019.

When Sergeant Andrew O'Connor, Detective Garda Niall Minnock and Garda Conor Garland arrived at the scene in Poppintree, Ballymun, they saw a man holding what appeared to be a black sub machine gun, before he ran into a house and into the bathroom.

The Gardai followed him to the house, and the man fired shots from the bathroom before he was apprehended and the firearm was safely recovered.

Gardai then saw a black grenade on the floor of the bathroom; an Irish Defence Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit examined it before carrying out a controlled explosion.