Two years ago, Garda Conor Treacy and Garda Nigel Murphy were dispatched to a burning house in west Dublin.
They had received reports of a firearm being discharged at the building, and as they made their way to the scene, the gardaí were advised that the house was on fire and there may be someone trapped inside.
“By the time we got there, the place was covered in smoke,” Garda Murphy says. “We tried to get through the front door but that was slammed shut so we couldn’t get there.” His colleague, Garda Treacy, “went through the back [to the neighbour’s garden], found a ladder and went up to the bedroom window. I just followed him up; I wouldn’t leave him on his own”.
Though she was unresponsive at the time, a woman was located lying on the bed in the smoke-filled room. Garda Treacy and Garda Murphy managed to carry her to the window and safely hand her down to their colleagues outside the house. The woman was taken to hospital for treatment to her injuries and made a full recovery.
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The two men were honoured in Dublin on Friday with the highest award that can be bestowed by the Garda Commissioner, a Scott Medal. Nine Scott Medals were handed out in total. For Garda Treacy, the ceremony happened to fall on his 28th birthday.
“You don’t even think about panic, to be honest,” he said. “The family members are shouting and roaring that there’s someone inside. The first thing you think is: I’m a guard here; I’ve to do something about this. You don’t think of danger or fear or anything like that. You just go in and do your job.
“When I went in through the neighbour’s garden, it [the ladder] was the first thing I saw on the ground. There were other colleagues there that held the ladder and everything like that. When we lowered the woman down from the bedroom, there were other colleagues there that have to get a bit of recognition as well.”
This week, both Garda Treacy and Garda Murphy have been on duty in Citywest, where violent protests led to three of their colleagues suffering injuries. Garda Treacy is a member of the Public Order Unit, which was employed on the frontline in riot gear.
“When you’re standing there and there are bottles, bricks, fireworks, sometimes shovels and pitchforks thrown at you, it is frightening but you have a duty to carry out,” he said.
“We have families and homes to go to as well. There’s nothing stopping people from carrying out a peaceful protest but there was nothing peaceful [about] the last couple of days.”
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, who was present at the Scott Medal ceremony alongside Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, has praised An Garda Síochána’s response to the public disorder at Citywest.
On the award of the silver Scott Medal, Garda Murphy said: “It’s a great honour. The support we got from our colleagues, and all our relatives, our family and friends, was great. Everyone was just delighted for us. Thank God we were all safe.”
