Scott medals for ‘bravery that knows no bounds’
MURDERED Dundalk detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was posthumously awarded the Garda Siochana’s highest honour, the gold Scott medal, for making the ‘ultimate sacrifice’ in the line of duty more than three years ago.
And his colleague, Detective Joe Ryan, who was held at gunpoint by the raiders at Lordship Credit on January 25 2013 while his colleague lay dead and the murderous gang stole money, was awarded the silver Scott medal for his outstanding courage and bravery.
The medals were presented by Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan at the sports hall at the Garda College at Templemore on Thursday. Adrian’s medal was collected by his wife, Caroline, and two children, Niall and Amy, while Joe collected his medal in the company of his colleagues, including Superintendent Gerard Curley and Chief Superintendent Sean Ward.
The event was also attended by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, who said the awards recognised the ‘exceptional personal bravery and the spirit of determined public service’.
In the citations, the men were praised for their ‘exceptional courage and bravery’.
Commissioner O’Sullivan said Adrian and Joe were performing a cash escort and ‘just doing the job that a member of the Gardai does every day’ when they were attacked.
She said: ‘ The bravery that was shown by Adrian and Joe that night knows no bounds. One thing that Niall and Amy can be certain of: your dad was one of the bravest, most courageous members of An Garda Siochana’.
The Commissioner also praised the courage of the Donohoe family who have lived with Adrian’s loss for more than three and a half years. She said: ‘I know that there are moments where they must have thought: ‘I can’t go on’ and, within minutes, found the courage to do just that, for Adrian’s sake, and say: ‘I will go on’.
‘ That’s not the courage required in a crisis; it’s a different type of courage - it’s a grinding, infinitely sad, infinitely admirable courage and no sympathy can reach it, no words can make it better, no award can touch the depth of it.
‘I want them to know that the Garda family will always keep and cherish the memory of Adrian alive’.
Minister Fitzgerald said the gold Scott medal was awarded because Adrian showed ‘utterly fearless dedication to his fellow citizens and this State and that sets Gardai like Adrian Donohoe in a category apart.
She said: ‘I hope that it (the medal) can always be a small consolation to you all to know the depth of esteem and respect that his colleagues and the whole community hold for him’.
Superintendent Curley told LMFM News that it was ‘very important’ that members who had died in the line of duty were remembered and awarded in this way. He said they had made ‘ the ultimate sacrifice’ by showing courage in the line of duty.