THOMAS J O'REILLY:THOMAS J O'REILLY was one of the most far-sighted and influential senior officers in the recent history of An Garda Síochána.
He retired as deputy commissioner in 1994 on his 60th birthday. But his role in shaping today’s force was arguably greater than that of most commissioners. Many of the positive characteristics of today’s Garda Síochána have their origins, at least in part, in his modernising instincts and his sharp intellect.
Born in Dublin, he joined the force in 1958, being unusual among Garda recruits of that era in having already completed a UCD arts degree. All of his 37 years of service were to be divided between the Dublin Metropolitan Area and Garda headquarters. His father was also a garda, joining in 1932 in the commissionership of Col Eamon Broy.
His movement upward through the ranks was gradual rather than meteoric, a fact that probably helped to keep him grounded in the day-to-day realities of urban police work. He reached inspector in 1973 and superintendent in 1978. In 1984, he became a chief superintendent.
In 1988 he was one of the so-called three wise men, as they were dubbed, appointed to set An Garda Síochána on a new course to the future. Patrick Culligan became deputy commissioner. Tom O’Reilly became assistant commissioner, Dublin Metropolitan Area. PJ Moran became assistant commissioner with responsibility for modernising training and developing what is now the Garda College.
This followed the report of the Garda Advisory Group, chaired by Dr Patrick Moriarty. It recommended changes in the running of the force after serious flaws had emerged in the handling of some high-profile cases that included the kidnapping of Dublin dentist John O’Grady and the investigation of the Kerry babies case.
This involved the 1984 murder of a newborn baby for which charges against a local woman, Joanne Hayes, were thrown out by a judge after it emerged it was medically impossible for her to have given birth to the child.
In 1991, O’Reilly was promoted to deputy commissioner, taking charge of the force’s operations branch.
He had served as general secretary to the Representative Body for Inspectors, Station Sergeants and Sergeants from 1968 to 1970. This was the era of the Conroy report that urged the reform of many of the structures and processes that had served An Garda Síochána since its inception. He collaborated closely with Jack Marrinan, his counterpart in the Garda Representative Body, in the preparation of detailed submissions to Conroy.
His input into this process was significant and it gave him the opportunity to promulgate his views on the changing role of the police service in a modernising Ireland.
At a time when “police science” was virtually an unknown term in this country, O’Reilly had developed views on the sociology of policing. He cherished the concept of the police officer as an exemplar in society. He was informed by the work of academics like Michael Banton (The Policeman in the Community; 1964) and TA Critchley (A History of the Police in England and Wales; 1967).
This strong intellectual drive, coupled with his experience as a front-line police officer gave him an influential role in a force that was struggling to cope with a growing subversive threat, rising crime and accumulated problems of institutional fatigue.
As a young inspector he was assigned to the newly formed research and planning unit, established as one of Conroy’s recommendations. His relentlessly questioning approach and his challenges to conventional police thinking made him something of an enfant terrible at the depot, Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park.
Senior management struggled to keep abreast of his ideas and were frequently baffled as to how to respond to what he liked to describe as his “blinding flashes of the obvious”.
In 1984, he led the setting up of the community relations section. He championed the development of neighbourhood watch and the women and children support unit in Dublin. In 1991, shortly after his promotion to deputy commissioner, he proposed the establishment of the Garda mounted unit.
With his fellow wise men he was proactive in developing relationships with the RUC during the early 1990s. In 1975, he completed a MSc in economics and statistics at Trinity College Dublin and in 1978, he used a Fulbright Scholarship to research policing methods in the US.
He married Isabella Berkeley in 1960. They had five children (Deirdre, Orna, Fiona, Fergal, Niamh), 15 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Thomas J O’Reilly – born: May 25th, 1934; died May 28th, 2011.