Garda Patrick McElroy

Yeah, so my story is quite similar to what Emma went through.

I joined in 2007 and I literally had finished college on the Friday and started in Templemore on the Monday.

Studying.

Studying engineering.

So I was in DCU back then.

I did an undergrad and a postgrad there as well.

2007, it was a bit of a freeze on kind of recruitment and then it kind of opened up.

So I was joined in 2007, a test in 2008 and then I went to Dundrum and then my current role now, I'm in Forensic Collision in Dublin Castle.

So I went there in 2013.

Yeah, it has its moments and ups and downs, but invariably I'd be dealing with victims of road traffic collisions.

My job, I suppose, is to attend scenes of fatal and maybe life-altering road traffic collisions.

That's tough.

Yeah.

Yeah, so my job is pretty much the storyteller.

So when it gets to the courts or any of the courts, so it can be either prosecution in a district or a circuit court or invariably when it goes to the coroner's court, the families get the answers that my report will provide.

Yeah, so I have a three function role when I attend these scenes.

We're pretty much photographers, mappers and scenes crime examiners.

When I step foot on a scene, my goal or the aim is to get the answers that the family will ask me a couple of years down the line.

Yes.

Well, I try to compartmentalise the situation and be steadfast in my approach when I do these investigations.