A family and a force bid farewell to a hero
Thousands bid farewell to tragic detective Colm Horkan – a man who brought joy to all those lucky enough to have known him
THE procession was slow and sombre. All along the 1km route from the Horkan home to St James’s Church yesterday, gardaí lined the streets to pay their final respects to a colleague and friend, while a family numbed with shock grappled with their loss.
The murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan, 49, in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, last Wednesday night profoundly saddened the nation, but it is his father, brothers and sister who bear the hardest burden of all. ‘Our family are in turmoil,’ his brother Brendan Horkan said. ‘Reality has hit us in the face.’
Their grief was shared by thousands across the country, amplified perhaps by a lockdown that meant gardaí were a more visible presence in our lives in recent times than ever before. The newfound appreciation for their work was reflected in the fact that civilians joined members of the force and other emergency services in observing a minute’s silence at noon as a mark of respect for the 89th garda to die in the line of duty since the foundation of An Garda Síochána in 1922. Many thousands more watched the live stream of the service on RTÉ News Now.
The silence was started and ended by President Michael D. Higgins, accompanied by his wife Sabina, ringing the peace bell in the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin; in normal times, they too would have been in Charlestown, Co. Mayo. Det Gda Horkan’s coffin, draped in the Tricolour, was borne up the aisle by six of his colleagues, and followed by his father Marty, brothers Aiden, Brendan, Dermot and Pádraig, sister Deirdre and their spouses and children.
It was another reminder of the odd times in which we now live, because a stalwart son of the community, a man renowned for sporting success and multiple acts of personal kindness, would in other circumstances have got a bigger send-off. The small number allowed indoors made it somehow more poignant, a deeply personal farewell to the man who, as his brother Brendan said, was ‘the rock in our family, the glue that kept it all together’.
After the singing of You Raise Me Up and As I Kneel Before You, parish priest Monsignor Tommy Johnston opened by recalling his first thoughts on Thursday morning. ‘On hearing the news of a garda being shot, and from a Mayo town, I remember thinking, I pity the priest who has to do that funeral,’ he said. ‘Little did I know I would be that priest.’
He welcomed those who could attend – including Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, Assistant Commissioner Barry O’Brien, chief superintendent for Roscommon and Longford Tony Healy, and superintendents Goretti Sheridan, from Castlerea station, and Gabriel Moran, from Claremorris.
Msgr Johnston was joined on the altar by Archdeacon David Pierpoint and Rev Fr Joe Kennedy,
respectively the Church of Ireland and Catholic chaplains to the Garda, bishop elect of Achonry Fr Paul Dempsey, Fr John Doherty of Charlestown, and Achonry diocesan administrator Fr Dermot Meehan.
Gifts were brought to the altar to reflect the variety of Colm Horkan’s interests. There was a Garda notebook, to signify ‘26 years of exemplary service’; a Charlestown Sarsfields jersey ‘he wore with pride on every occasion he donned the green and white’; and the key of his Audi, a car he loved and one ‘that shone just like him’.
Then there was a CD to remember his love of music – ‘he was always first in the queue for Ticketmaster’; a family photo to symbolise their strong bond; a Tommy Hilfiger shirt as a reminder of his love for fashion and always wanting to look his best; and finally a Liverpool FC tiepin. ‘The Liverpool motto “you’ll never walk alone” summed up Colm perfectly,’ his brother Dermot said with emotion. ‘He never let any of his family or friends walk alone.’
Another brother, Pádraig, was at the lectern for the readings, the first from Ecclesiastes (‘For everything, there is a season… a time to live and a time to die’), and the second from a letter from St Paul to the Romans, which carried added weight: ‘It is not easy to die even for a good person – though of course for someone really worthy, one might be prepared to die – but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.’
In his homily, Msgr Johnston told how Det Gda Horkan had celebrated all his faith events in that church – Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation and now his funeral. He read an extract from a letter by a lifelong friend, saying: ‘Colm was a cherished member of our community, a brother to everyone, young and old. We grew up together, played together and performed in school plays together. It will take a long, long time for our community to come to terms with this senseless act of violence.’
Brendan Horkan delivered the eulogy. ‘Colm was a gem,’ he said. ‘He carried himself with dignity in and out of uniform. He loved his football. He loved life.
‘He was a wonderful uncle, with all the values you would associate with a decent human being, and loyal to the core. His beaming smile brightened up many a dark hour and day and now we say goodbye to a giant who brought such joy and happiness to us all.’
As the Tricolour was folded and presented to Marty Horkan, a man who already suffered the great loss of his wife Dolores and daughter Colette, Colm’s twin, the final song was The Voyage, written by Johnny Duhan and memorably recorded by Christy Moore.
‘When we started the voyage, there was just me and you,’ it goes. ‘Now, gathered round us, we have our own crew.’
It was obvious from the emotion throughout that the Horkans are a tightly knit crew. They will, no doubt, row on together, but must know by now there is any number of volunteers to help them navigate the choppy waters of grief and great personal loss, and the loss of the nation when one of its servants is so cruelly taken from us.