A man who came upon the scene as a woman was being bundled into a car boot in Dublin was among 26 people from around the country presented with National Bravery Awards on Friday.
Eric Doran was passing in his car on his way to work on January 6th 2020 when he became immediately concerned for what he saw on Blackhorse Avenue.
A woman had been walking down the avenue when a man grabbed her and tried to force her into the boot of his car. The woman struggled and began screaming and kicking out as the man tried to close the boot on her. The woman later said she was in fear of her life but she continued to struggle with the assailant as he slammed the boot on her legs several times.
Although Mr Doran hadn’t got a clear view he immediately brought his own vehicle to a stop. He reversed back beside the car as the assailant began trying to drag his victim from the boot into the back seat. As Mr Doran approached, the assailant threw his victim to the ground and fled the scene.
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According to the Garda report, his intervention undoubtedly saved the life of the woman who was being abducted.
Mr Doran noted the make of the vehicle and a partial registration as he went to help the lady and the assailant was later arrested and imprisoned.
For his actions, he was awarded a Certificate of Bravery at the National Bravery Awards in Farmleigh House in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.
The Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, presented the awards.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Ó Fearghaíl said the awards celebrate “the noblest impulse in a human being, the impulse to risk our lives in order to save someone else’s”.
“But just as importantly, what these awards also do is mark the importance of the lives that were saved and also those that were lost”.
“I say this because in several instances, we are making awards where, in spite of brave actions and valiant efforts, lives were tragically lost. Those involved in these attempts know how hard they struggled, the families of those lost appreciate their efforts as do we, the Irish nation,” he said.
The annual honours are awarded by Comhairle na Míre Gaile – the Deeds of Bravery Council – which was founded 76 years ago in 1947 to enable State recognition of exceptional Acts of Bravery.
The council is chaired by the Ceann Comhairle and includes the Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, the Lord Mayors of Dublin and Cork, the Garda Commissioner, the president of the Association of City & County Councils, and the chairman of the Irish Red Cross.
Recipients from Wexford, Kildare, Laois, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo, Meath, Wicklow, Donegal and Dublin were among those honoured at the ceremony, for acts of bravery and courage, including:
James Nicholl, who received a posthumous gold medal award for his bravery in the attempted rescue of a man from the river Liffey on April 8th, 2023.
At about 1.30am on the night of the incident, gardaí responded to a call of two men in the river Liffey near Grattan Bridge. There they briefly saw a man in the river, before he disappeared under the water.
It has since been established that one young man jumped from Grattan Bridge into the Liffey at about 1.20am. A friend of his called for help and James Nicholl stepped forward saying he would try to save the man.
The man calling for help told him not to go in if he couldn’t swim, but although Mr Nicholl did not know the young man in the water he said he would help.
According to the man who was calling for help, Mr Nicholl said “I am ex-army, I will get him”, and jumped into the Liffey.
Several lifebuoys were thrown into the water by people on the edge of the river and both An Garda Síochána and Dublin Fire Brigade searched from the quayside for some time but neither man could be located.
Shortly after 6am, the body of James Nicholl was recovered from the water beside Millennium Bridge by the Garda Water Unit. The search continued and sometime later the body of the young man he had attempted to save was recovered from the water beside the Ha’penny Bridge.
For his actions, Mr Nicholl was posthumously awarded a gold medal and a certificate of bravery.
Callum Clarke was honoured for rescuing his grandfather Sean during an incident on Killina Lake, Co Roscommon, in September 2021, when Clarke was just 11.
A freak gust of wind tipped Sean into the water and as he tried to surface the boat began to capsize. Sean went under the surface but was brought up by Callum, who grabbed his collar. Although they were both wearing life jackets, Sean’s failed to inflate and with both of them in the freezing cold water, Callum grabbed a board from the overturned boat and told his grandfather to hold on to it as the pair paddled to shore.
When they made it to shore, Sean was struggling to breathe and Callum ran to their car to get his phone and raise the alarm. Sean was taken by ambulance to Mullingar General Hospital where he was detained briefly before making a full recovery.
Christo Drami was awarded for rescuing a woman from a violent domestic assault in Dublin. Drami heard the woman’s cries for help after she was stabbed in the neck, head, face and arm by her then partner. Drami came out of his flat and saw the victim on the floor, covered in blood with the attacker leaning over her with a slash hook. Without regard for his own safety, Christo intervened and tackled the assailant, disarming him of the slash hook and incapacitating him until the arrival of gardaí. The detectives involved in investigating the case had no doubt that his intervention saved the life of the woman and resulted in her attacker being arrested and later imprisoned.
David Dunne and Mike Bolger received an award for helping to rescue a man and three children who were in difficulty in the water at a local park in Graiguenamanagh on 1st June 2020. David and Mike jumped into the river to save them and managed to get all of them out of the water to safety. For their actions they were each awarded a Silver Medal and Certificate of Bravery.
Fred Corcoran was awarded for the rescue of a young girl who had fallen into the river Dodder, in July 1947, when Corcoran was then aged about 15. The girl went under the water just as Fred saw her, so he removed his jacket and dived from the railings into the water to save her.
David Doran was awarded for rescuing a man from heavy seas at Bray Beach, Co Wicklow on April 24th, 2022, after he saw the man flailing in the water about 70m to 80m beyond the rocks at the end of the beach. The conditions were so poor that no one was willing to go into the water. In spite of his own misgivings about the sea state, David swam out through the waves to save the man.
