Son pays tribute to Garda father killed in IRA attack 51 years ago: Inspector Sam Donegan recently awarded Gold Scott Medal For Bravery

The Catholic-father-of-six was caught in what is suggested to have been a radio-controlled gelignite bomb on the Leggakilly Road. Both the Provisional and Official IRA denied involvement but according to Troubles reference work Lost Lives, it was later reported that the Provisionals were responsible. The Historical Enquiries Team later drew the same conclusion.

Just over a week ago Mr Donegan was awarded the Gold Scott Medal for bravery.

"This is the highest acknowledgement for a member of An Garda Síochána who put their life at risk in the line of duty," his son Michael, 69, told the News Letter.

"It's 51 years now and that's the first real acknowledgement of his sacrifice."

Michael, a retired primary school teacher who now lives in Co Offaly, was just 18 when his father died.

He was about to sit his Leaving Certificate on the outskirts of Cavan when a fellow pupil told him his father had been injured in an explosion.

The principal told him to sit his exam, which he did "in a kind of a haze".

Then he stepped into the corridor where two "very upset" Gardai took him to see his father in hospital. He died later that night.

"And we mark our lives from that moment as a family really."

"As a family it affected us all emotionally in the sense that we lost our father. Our guidance was taken away. He was a loving man, a very caring man, a decent guy. We relived the trauma of it for many, many years. We still have it to a certain degree.

"But my poor mother suffered the greatest - she was to live with it another 35 years. She never got over it. It was terrible."

He added: "These incidents are now a footnote in history, but that can never reflect the kind of loss and pain and suffering. I'm sure even our own children are affected by it."

As the bomb exploded only just across the border in NI, the PSNI Historical Enquiries Team investigated, holding the Provisional IRA responsible. Nobody was ever arrested.

"I have made a conscious decision that my life would not become a prisoner of resentment and anger because that would be a double victory for the people who killed my father," Michael said.

"They have to deal with their own consciences and, and meet their own maker of course, but nothing can bring back our beloved father.

"It is sad when our grandchildren came along - when we married and had families ourselves - that he never got to share the love that grandparents do."

Mr Donegan paid tribute to the support given to his mother by his father's colleagues and her neighbours after his father's murder.

He also described victim's groups the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), which he only found about three years ago, as "very supportive".