Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
Chapter 2: What is the current recruitment status for An Garda Síochána?
Garda Síochána is recruiting trainees right now, this minute. So we wanted to find out what it's like to train to be a guard and then what your career might look like once you start wearing the uniform. I have two people in the studio who are perfectly placed to tell us. Garda Emma Hennebry is here and Garda Patrick McElroy. You're both welcome. Thanks very much for coming in.
Thanks for having us. So you're here to tell us all about what you do day to day. So maybe we might start, Emma, with you and how you started in the Guards.
Did you go straight in after school? No, so I actually went to college in the University of Limerick and then I went on to do a master's degree and the Guards was always in my mind.
Chapter 3: What does training to be a guard involve?
So I took that time to apply and thankfully I was successful. So that's almost 20 years ago now, well 18 now. And maybe eight, nine years ago, I applied for the arm support unit. And that's where I am based today. OK, so what was the attraction of the arm support unit? So the arm support unit is it's a very professional unit with high training and it's highly skilled. So that was the attraction.
And I thought it would be a great challenge for me. So I applied. Yeah, back in 2017, it involved a rigorous recruitment campaign and training before I was deemed successful to enter the unit. So, yeah, that's my journey.
For the uninitiated, obviously, you're very familiar with the unit. But what does it do? Like, what is your job day to day?
Yeah, so the armed support unit, it's a specialist firearms unit that's tactically trained. And we're there to support frontline guardee and other departments in the guards that require an armed presence unit. So that could be responding to a spontaneous incident where weapons have been produced and capabilities of the frontline guardie can't manage that threat.
And then there is the request for us that would be from other various departments in the Guards that need an armed presence, whether it be for a forced entry into a house or Or there could be a threat of a firearm involved in a search.
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Chapter 4: How did Emma Henebery's journey to becoming a guard begin?
It's always very high adrenaline stuff that you're doing, is it? Yeah, there is quite a bit of adrenaline involved, but we undergo extreme training throughout the year. So we're always prepared for, I suppose, to cope with that adrenaline and to deal with the situation that we're.
And I just want to go back to your way in. So you said the guards was always in your mind. You were in college doing your master. Were you trying to shake it off and you couldn't?
Yeah, I think from secondary school it was always there, but I wanted to experience life and, you know, go down the college route. But I still was attracted to the guards and I still feel if I was at that time again in my life that it would still draw me in. It was the opportunity to work within the community and with like-minded people.
And yeah, you're really giving back and it's an impactful career where you can really help people and every day is different and you can really make a difference. So Patrick, for you, was it calling you as well?
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.
That is a tough job, forensic collision.
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.
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Chapter 5: What is the role of the Armed Support Unit in the Garda Síochána?
I think it's interesting to talk to you both, Emma, and realise that years ago, say when I was leaving school, you went straight into the guards. But now you're probably working with a lot of people who have gone down the path that you've gone down, maybe pursuing a career in a completely different area in college and then going into the guards afterwards.
Yeah, that's correct, Clare. And also with the increase in the age profile, there's a lot of people joining now that have previous careers behind them and they're just seeking something different. So with the age profile up to, I think, 50, am I correct on that? It is attracting people with lots of life experience. But there's avenues for both.
I mean, there's school leavers who might think it's a really good opportunity for them. They learn on the job. There's great continuous professional development. So it actually caters to all age demographics and profiles. So I think that's an excellent... thing about on Garda Síocháin at the moment.
Ireland is changing, you know, we've a multicultural Ireland now, you know, with five million people living here. Some of them are from all corners of the world. Has the job changed as a result?
Yes, definitely. I suppose it's a modern police force and it recognises that the people that serve the community have to reflect the communities that they serve.
So that's why the recruitment campaign is really encouraging people from all backgrounds, all demographics and cultures to think of it as an excellent career choice because the communities want to be represented by the guards that serve them. So definitely the job is very much focused on that. Whereas maybe traditionally 20 years ago, it might not have had that diversity.
So I think that's a really good sign of the job. Do you see that as well, Patrick? I can't answer any better than that.
That was a good answer. Thanks, Patrick.
But you know, we've always had policing by consent in Ireland, but there was a time when you were afraid of the guard, you're afraid of the sergeant in your town. That's changed a lot, hasn't it?
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Chapter 6: What are the challenges faced by guards in high-stress situations?
You need to be everything, really, if you think about it.
Yeah, you can be an all-rounder, but lads tend to kind of pigeonhole themselves into certain positions. Lads can be good at something on the unit, and we all work together as a unit. So some people might have an interest in drugs or organised crime. Some people have an interest of a girl for roads policing. And they all work together in tandem and in unison that they can...
calling each other's kind of experiences if they're ever faced with something else that they haven't experienced before. So it's a great unit in Caminham that I dealt with anyway.
And I suppose for you guys working there for some time now, you'd welcome people from all sorts of backgrounds to come and join you because you need those people to be able to do the job as you have described it.
Yeah, definitely. And it brings broader perspective as well. So I think you flourish as a person if you're surrounded by people that are diverse. It's just the natural way of things. So definitely, like the recruitment campaign, we'd encourage people from all walks of life to apply.
And you might not think you have all the skill sets, but if you actually reflect and go through how you operate on a day to day, you'd be surprised. You could be very good at decision making. Your judgment could be very good, a good communicator.
be resilient and they're all the skills that we're looking for in the job at the moment so I'd recommend anyone that's thinking about a new career or seeking something different to apply.
And there are lots of elements to it as well as you've both explained like you're not going to be doing maybe what you perceive a guard to be doing you know as you've both told us there are lots of different paths in the guards right?
That's correct you have to be very open to new challenges in the guards so It can take you down various roads and we're a prime example of that. I would never have thought when joining the Guards that I would be doing this 20 years down the line. But again, it's something I'm very open to, I'm very excited and it's kind of changing all the time. So it's a great role that I'm in.
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