Limerick Fine Gael TD Patrick O’Donovan has paid tribute to the memory of Gardaí who lost their lives in the course of their service to the State. He raised the matter in the Dáil as the twentieth anniversary of murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in Adare on the 7th June 1996 approaches. Patrick O’Donovan, speaking in a debate on crime in the Dáil said, that while members of the house had paid tribute to the work of An Garda Siochána, we needed to remember those who had their lives cut short in the course of their duty by those who targeted members of An Garda Siochána to pursue their own ends.
During the debate, Patrick O’Donovan paid tribute to Anne McCabe who he said “had kept his memory alive” and he also thanked the members of the Limerick Division of the Force for ensuring that he would never be forgotten by erecting a plaque in his memory in Adare. A concert in his memory will be held in the University of Limerick, at which the band of An Garda Siochána will take part.
After the debate Patrick O’Donovan said that it was vital that all public representatives who commit themselves to the rule of law must stand up and be counted in the defence of An Garda Siochána and our Defence Forces personnel.
“We must always remember the families of slain Gardaí whose grief will never go away. Here in Limerick we recall the memory of people like Séamus Quaid who was shot while on duty in Wexford in 1980. The security of our State has since 1922 depended on the courage and selfless commitment of people like Garda Séamus Quaid and others, who by in large, have operated as unarmed men and women in the service of their communities. For their families who are left behind it is important that the country they served, publicly remembers them, to show the current and future generations that these were true patriots who Ireland will for ever be indebted to.”
“We must never forget the events in our lifetime where certain groups and subversive organisations openly targeted members of An Garda Siochána and the Defence Forces in the pursuit of narrow unrepresentative political objectives. While Ireland is now in a new political era, those people who had their lives cut short because of the uniform that they wore must never be forgotten. We all have a duty to ensure that.”
