Gardaí to be awarded Scott medals for bravery today
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A veteran of the War of Independence who was shot dead at his home by IRA gunmen is one of a number of deceased, retired, and serving gardaí who will today be honoured for their bravery.
Detective Sergeant Denis O’Brien was ambushed as he left his family home in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, on the night of September 9, 1942.
Three IRA men armed with Thompson sub-machine guns ambushed him. Two gunmen fired on him as he got out of his car. He fired a number of shots at his attackers. It was as he was attempting to escape the ambush that a fourth gunman appeared and he was shot in the head.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will today posthumously award Detective Sergeant O’Brien with a gold Scott medal for bravery at Walter Scott House, Dublin.
A total of eight Scott medals will be awarded at the ceremony, which will also be attended by Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
The eight awards will include three posthumous medals, two gold and one bronze.
• The other gold medal to be awarded posthumously is for Cork native Superintendent John Curtin, who was ambushed, shot, and killed at his home in Tipperary, in 1931.
The 28-year-old had successfully brought a number of paramilitary figures before the court in Clonmel just days before his murder.
• A bronze Scott medal will be awarded posthumously to Garda Morgan Lahiffe after he and another garda, Gerry O’Sullivan, tackled three armed raiders at a supermarket in Togher, Cork, on August 20, 1971.
The awards are named after New York philanthropist Colonel Walter Scott, who in 1924 donated to An Garda Síochána a $1,000 gold bond, in perpetuity, to endow a medal for bravery.
It is the highest award that can be bestowed by the Garda Commissioner and is awarded for “most exceptional bravery and heroism involving the risk of life in the execution of duty”.
The silver medal is to be awarded to Garda Timothy McSweeney, who was repeatedly stabbed during a domestic incident on the evening of March 24, 2022. He had responded to a call at a house in Douglas, Cork, where he found a woman in fear of life, and the lives of her children.
He was confronted by man who was drunk and behaving aggressively. As Garda McSweeney tried to escort him from the house, the man went back inside took a large knife from the kitchen and started slashing himself before he stabbed Garda McSweeney.
Garda McSweeney suffered a number of knife wounds to his arms and injuries to his knee and back when he was dragged to the floor. The man continued to resist and made threats to kill Garda McSweeney.
Despite his injuries, Garda McSweeney managed to get the man on to the ground, drew his baton, and restrained him.