A TALLAGHT Garda inspector carried out duties well beyond the usual call yesterday by assisting in the emergency delivery of a baby boy in the station.
The delighted parents, Ms Olive Roche (41) and her husband Michael (39), intend to honour Insp Declan O'Brien by naming their new son after him.
Insp O'Brien was just about to finish a shift at around 1.40 p.m. yesterday when Mr and Ms Roche pulled up in a car. They had been making a dash from their home in Brookview Gardens, Tallaght, to the Coombe Hospital when Ms Roche's waters broke and they called to the Garda station to phone for an ambulance.
The quick thinking inspector and Sgt Michael Whelan rushed Ms Roche to the station's conference room where, with the help of Mr Roche, they delivered a healthy baby about 10 minutes later.
The only supplies they had at the birth were a single bed requisitioned from the women's restroom and some tinfoil in which to wrap the baby to keep him warm.
"He popped out into my palm and I just gave him a couple of rubs on the back and I heard him crying and that was it, I just turned him over, said a pleased Insp O'Brien, who has two children of his own. "The conference room in Tallaght station has never hosted such an event before."
An ambulance arrived shortly after the delivery and brought parents and baby to the Coombe Hospital.
Speaking from her hospital ward last night, Ms Roche, who has seven other children, said the baby was a healthy 7 lb 14 oz. "I still think it's only a dream," she said.
Insp O'Brien said he felt honoured by the event. "I was just thinking that in the course of your career in the police you come across people and you invariably see them at their worst and when you see bodies they are usually mutilated or something. To see the infant purity born was absolutely wonderful," he said.