PRESIDENT MARY McAleese met 10 of the State’s first women gardaí at a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of women in policing in Ireland.
Speaking in Templemore, Mrs McAleese described the women as “mould breakers, pioneers and trail blazers” and as “ambassadors for women” in a less equal time.
The celebration, attended by Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, brought together 10 retired female gardaí who graduated on December 7th, 1959.
“We are celebrating what was, at the time, a very significant watershed in Irish culture and a step up into an different era,” the President said. The exclusion of women from the Garda “for such a long period” made “no sense” and was an “unnecessary waste of talent”.
Mrs McAleese described the entry of women into policing 50 years ago as “a very crucial recognition of the right of women to full equality. It was a turning away from that old culture of waste and discrimination that held women’s hopes and ambitions so powerfully in check.”
“The exclusion carried with it an absolutely massive historic baggage of presumptions about the role of women and the rights of women,” she pointed out.
“It kept women corralled and kept them from making their fullest contributions to the widest possible spheres. I suppose it’s a good thing today that our children would be surprised that we are celebrating 50 years of women in An Garda Síochána because for them it’s a natural part of everyday life,” she added.
Brid Wymbs, who served at Store Street station in Dublin for 12 years, said: “People used to come out on the streets and stop whatever it was they were doing and stare at us when we first appeared in our uniforms.
“We were quite a novelty at the time, I suppose, and it felt good to be part of an organisation that recognised women’s rights within the workplace,” she said. Brid said she vividly remembered one of the first armed robberies in Dublin shortly after she graduated.
“There was £6,000 robbed from a factory up in East Wall. It was a very big case at the time because of the use of guns,” she said.
“We spent a lot of our policing time liaising with families and with women who had been beaten and with children who were abused.”
Sarah O’Sullivan who also served at Store Street, said: “When we graduated it was a much more innocent world. There were no drugs, very few armed robberies and maybe one or two murder cases a year.
“It’s incredible how it’s changed. The young people entering the gardaí today are used to the changes in society from an early age and are well equipped for the challenges that lie ahead,” she said.
Helena Sparrow, who served at Athy, in Co Kildare, said 1959 was “a time when people left their keys in their front door”.
“There were very few cars on the road and we cycled absolutely everywhere,” she said.