Community bids farewell as popular gardai retire

Paul Tennanty, who has just retired from his role as sergeant in Dunshaughlin Garda Station after 20 years, has paid tribute to the community there as great people to work with.

"The people of Dunshaughlin are hardworking, decent people, and it was a delight to be involved in policing the area," he said. "They worked with us, and we with them, and it is reflected in the low crime rate and public order offence level in the area," the Kildalkey native stated.

He arrived in Dunshaughlin after spending a couple of years in Ashbourne, where he received a bravery award after disarming a man who was convicted of murdering a neighbour.

Sgt Tennanty and a colleague arrived at the scene in the Milltown Estate in Ashbourne in 2000, where a 20 year-old had been shot dead.

In the subsequent court case, Justice Patrick Smith, imposing a mandatory life sentence for murder, referred to the "bravery and courage" of Sgt Paul Tennanty on the night of the fatal shooting.

"Sgt Tennanty arrived at the scene within minutes and was confronted by the defendant who had a loaded shotgun which O'Brien pointed at him," Mr Justice Smith said.

"He persuaded him to drop his gun."

The trial heard that the defendant had drunk 12 pints of lager before the killing, and Sgt Tennanty had realised during his encounter with the man that it may not have been difficult to disarm him, and made his move.

He says another bad experience he has was while stationed in Louth village when trying to make a drunk driving arrest. He received a beating which saw him hospitalised overnight. Sgt Tennanty’s first posting was to Harcourt Terrace when he passed out from Templemore in 1982, and responsibilities included security on the Dail and government departments such as Justice and Foreign Affairs.

He then served in Mountjoy Square, Blanchardstown and Gurteen, Co Sligo, where he became sergeant.

"It was a very quiet place – only one crime a year," he recalls.

There was a big change when he then went to Louth village, working out of Dundalk and Hackballscross, before being transferred to Ashbourne in 1998. Paul is very appreciative of all the messages of goodwill he has received since he announced his departure from Dunshaughlin, saying that he is overwhelmed and didn’t expect to get so many messages and tributes.

Also just retired is Ray Dennison, who joined the Dunshaughlin station in 1998, and returned there earlier this year after a three-year stint as assistant general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) in Phibsboro.

The Kells native joined the force in 1990, and served in Monaghan, Donnybrook, and Ballymun before being appointed to Dunshaughlin.

He had been Meath representative on the national executive of the GRA since 2011, and is delighted to see a strong and enthusiastic team now based in the Dunshaughlin station. He paid tribute to the gardai who he worked with over the years there, and believes that many of them who lived in the village and community were responsible for that strong relationship between the local gardai and the people of the village.