Laois Garda Chief pays tribute to first Garda killed 100 years ago

The Laois Offaly Kildare Garda Chief Superintendent has paid tribute to the community spirit of the first Garda ever killed on duty in the force, 100 years ago this month.

On November 12, the family of the late Henry Phelan had along with Garda Deputy Commissioner Anne Marie McMahon and members of the force, attended a Mass in St Fergal's Church, Camross and laid wreaths at the graveside of Garda Phelan.

Chief Supt John Scanlan said that the young Garda had been trying to buy hurleys and start a local team, at the moment he was shot.

He was speaking this week at a public meeting held in Laois between the Policing Authority and top Irish Gardaí including Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Deputy Commissioner McMahon. It was held in the Killeshin Hotel, following a private tour by the senior Gardaí around Portlaoise Garda Station, set to be the new divisional headquarters.

He said that the huge three county Garda district stretched from the edges of urban Dublin, "all the way down to the Slieve Bloom mountains".

“I remind myself of last weekend when we went there to honour the death of the first guard, who was shot in the line of duty.

"We started out in our service losing the first person to lose his life in the civil war, Henry Phelan. He lost his life in Mullinahone, county Tipperary buying hurleys to set up a hurling team in Callan, county Kilkenny.

Those virtues of community involvement are sustained to this day. Every member of sworn staff who sat in front of you yesterday, is participating in a club, or a community group, or involved in a board of management of a school.

"Where we garner our public support, is that our interface doesn’t stop with the clock stopping our day’s work. It continues out into our daily lives as participants in the community. We are as much invested in this division in keeping our people safe as we are in the workplace. 

Read more about Garda Henry Phelan below.

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"In my time of service, the landscape of how we deal with people has changed but the basic tenets of common sense and decency should still be the central tenet of how we approach people and give a service," Chief Supt Scanlan said.