Call for memorial day for gardaí who die on duty

All police officers who have died in the line of duty should be commemorated by a national memorial day, the Garda Survivors' …

All police officers who have died in the line of duty should be commemorated by a national memorial day, the Garda Survivors' Support Association has claimed.

After its inaugural memorial day in Dublin yesterday, which included the laying of a wreath by Tánaiste Michael McDowell, the former president of the Garda Representative Association, Dermot O'Donnell, said the time was right for a day of commemoration similar to that which occurred annually in Britain.

This should primarily focus on members of An Garda Síochána but should also cover members of previous police forces, the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) and the Royal Irish Constabulary. However, establishing the exact number of officers who should be commemorated was difficult, and would depend on the criteria used.

He said there were 31 names on the Garda's roll of honour for deceased members since 1922, but he stressed that any decision to introduce a national memorial day would need to see the rules for inclusion on this roll of honour revised.

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Unlike the current situation, he said, this would allow it to include gardaí who may have died in car accidents while on duty or who may have been killed by so-called "friendly fire".

While officers in Northern Ireland would already be catered for by the UK memorial day, he said he had "no objection" to the idea of a future all-island commemoration.

"A committee needs to be set up, on which this association would play an important role, to establish the criteria for inclusion on the roll of honour," he told The Irish Times.

"When it comes to the question of inclusion on the list, the most inclusive decision possible should be made. If in doubt, it's better to include than to exclude them."

The list of officers should date back to the 1830s and the professionalisation of the force, Mr O'Donnell added. "I think their families deserve it and there is precedence elsewhere, as a way of showing that in laying their life down they weren't forgotten."

Mr McDowell was guest of honour at yesterday's memorial Mass at the Blessed Sacrament church on Bachelors Walk.

He subsequently laid a wreath at a monument to Constable Patrick Sheahan (DMP) on Hawkins Street. Constable Sheahan died trying to save members of the public who fell into a sewer there 102 years ago.