South Kilkenny lecture hears of 100 years of policing in Ireland

One hundred years of policing in Ireland, since 1925, was the topic of the most recent South Kilkenny Historical Society lecture.

It was delivered by Conor Brady, former editor of The Irish Times. A packed parish hall in Mullinavat, which included Superintendent Gavin Hegarty representing An Garda Siochana, and an online presence were given a detailed account of policing in Ireland since the amalgamation of An Garda Siochana (which were formed in 1923) and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Mr Brady began by saying that ‘perhaps one of the most instructive tests of a democracy is the way that its police services operate’. He went on to say that ‘the police are almost invariably a mirror image of the broad values of the society they serve’, and continued that ‘in few countries is this as true as in the Republic of Ireland’.
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Despite its establishment following a bitter civil war, An Garda Siochana was set up and continues to be, for the most part, an unarmed national force. It discharges both the functions of a civil police force and a national security service.

Eoin O’Duffy was the first commissioner. O’Duffy was described as ‘the ideal man to organise and direct the novel and ambitious undertaking of creating an unarmed native civil police for a country whose experience of justice administration had been the contrary of this ideal’.

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In February 1933, General Eoin O’Duffy was dismissed from his post and replaced by Colonel Eamon Broy. In July 1933 O’Duffy assumed leadership of the Army Comrades Association (Blueshirts), which resulted in a political struggle between Fianna Fáil and Republicans on one side and Cumann na nGaedheal and Blueshirts on the other, between 1933 and 1935.

The speaker continued by giving a detailed examination of An Garda Siochana between 1935 and 2025, mentioning ‘The Broy Harriers’, ‘The Emergency’, an ageing force, ‘Operation Harvest’, guns and drugs, the Conroy Commission, the Heavy Gang and Commissioner Drew Harris. He concluded by outlining the positive contributions of Jack Marrinan and Ivor Kenny.

A variety of topics were raised during the Q and A which followed the lecture, including Eamonn Coogan from Kilkenny, who was Eoin O’Duffy’s senior deputy.

On behalf of the society, the chairman thanked the speaker for an excellent lecture and for sharing his knowledge. He also thanked those involved in promoting and facilitating the lecture, and to Kilkenny County Council for financial assistance provided under the Community Event Grant and Community Local Enhancement Grant schemes.

The next society lecture takes place on Thursday, November 27, when retired judge Thomas Teehan will speak on ‘The Irish Legal System Before and Since Independence’.