Tributes paid to Sergeant Philip Maree as he retires from Gardai
Coroner Eamon McGowan led the tributes to the retiring Sergeant Philip Maree at yesterday’s (Monday’s) sitting of Sligo Coroner’s Court.
McGowan told the court: “I don’t want to let the day or the time go without saying a few words in relation to Philip Maree.
“Philip has been a Coroner’s Agent for ten years, and it’s not that he’s retiring as Coroner’s Agent but he has decided to retire from the Guards. I would like to thank him for his help to me over the last four or five years.
“He’s very thorough, he’s very generous with his time and his preparation. He’s very empathetic with witnesses and with families. He brought a great depth of experience to his job and I want to wish him the very best for the ongoing years.”
Sergeant Maree thanked the Coroner for his wishes and added: “It was back in 2007 when I started presenting the inquests here, during that time there was something in the region of 450 inquests presented.
“There’s been a lot of tragic cases, it’s a great time of grief and sadness for families all with different, unique cases. Just to acknowledge the work that the jury do and the great public service that they carry out.
“I know of a lot of times that families have appreciated the time and consideration that they have given to reach a verdict, it’s a great sense of comfort for the family.
“It’s difficult to say that you enjoy doing inquests because of the sadness and tragedy involved but I think what we all have tried to do during that time with people on the jury is to try make things a bit easier for the families in the way we carried out our duties in inquests. Thanks very much for your kind words.”
Inspector Paul Kilcoyne added: “On behalf of the Superintendent in Sligo and the Superintendent in Ballymote I would like to take this oppor- tunity to thank Sergeant Maree for all his hard work over the last 10/11 years. As he stated himself he has carried out his duties in a very professional and empathetic manner and I would like to take this opportunity to wish him well for the future.”
The jury foremon and Ciaran Tansey of Damien Tansey Solicitors also extended their well wishes to Sergeant Maree.