First woman among 15 gardai to receive Scott Medals for bravery

Three garda divers who rescued a family from a cave, an officer who disarmed a bank raider, and the first woman garda to be honoured for bravery were among 15 gardai presented with Scott medals yesterday.

Gardai Ciaran Doyle, David Mulhall and John O'Connell of the Garda Underwater Unit won gold medals for their rescue of three people from the back of a 300-metre sea cave on the Mayo coast last October. A member of the rescue services and a fourth man who had been stranded with the family died during the incident.

Mayo-based Garda Noel Canavan also received a gold medal for disarming a bank raider carrying a sawn-off shotgun and a loaded pistol. Mr Canavan was off-duty when he saw the man enter the bank in Foxford, Co Mayo, in May 1997. He tackled the raider at the door of his car and struggled with him, until the man grabbed a sawn-off shotgun from his car seat. After a violent struggle Mr Canavan forced him to point the weapon towards the roof of the car and disarmed him. The man was sentenced to eight years in the Special Criminal Court.

Garda Yvonne Burke became the first woman to be awarded the Scott medal, receiving a silver medal for chasing an armed raider in Dublin. The incident happened in November 1993 when she was responding to a panic alarm at a supermarket in Cabra, with her colleague William Brady, who was also awarded a silver medal.

They chased two men riding a motorbike after one of the men fired a shotgun blast at the car, shattering the passenger side of the windscreen. Both gardai arrested the armed pillion passenger, and the driver of the bike was arrested after he crashed the bike.

Garda Peter Burke received a bronze medal for disarming and arresting a man armed with a handgun in Dublin in June 1996. The man had tried to hold up a Tallaght travel agency and Mr Burke saw him leaving the shop. He chased the man and the gunman turned and pointed the gun at him, holding the gun on him for some time before he ran off. Mr Burke chased him and disarmed him after a struggle.

Gardai John Jones and James Breslin both received bronze medals for arresting five men in a shed in Buncrana, Co Donegal. The men, dressed in waterproofs and balaclavas, were found with firearms, ammunition and explosives.

Sgt Patrick Murphy, and gardai John Synnott and Padraic O'Malley from Wexford station were each awarded the bronze medal for rescuing an elderly woman from a house fire in the town in January 1996. All three men entered the burning house, rescuing the woman, who was semi-conscious, from an upstairs landing.

Three Limerick-based officers, Sgt Augustine Fox, and gardai Patrick Molloy and Patrick O'Callaghan each received a bronze medal for rescuing two children from a house fire in the city in July 1996.