It makes sense that the islanders call him “an garda ar an rothar” since his bicycle is his mode of transport through the byways and boreens on his beat on the Aran Islands of Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr.
The Salthill native may be fluent in Irish but Garda Áodháin Ó Cocláin is aware and respectful that he is not a native of a fíor Gaeltacht and sometimes traditional nuances of the language can leave him looking for his dictionary.
“There are certain words still part of the island dialect that I wouldn’t have come across because English is my first language,” Ó Cocláin explains. He is one of three Irish-speaking gardaí stationed on the island of Inis Mór.
Ó Cocláin says it is “absolutely a must” for gardaí to be able to speak Irish if they are stationed in a Gaeltacht area.
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“Some older people might not be able to express themselves properly if a serious situation arises and Irish is their first language,” he says. However, if an interview needs to be translated to English for judicial reasons, he says it must be sent to the Irish language section in Templemore for the appointment of an independent and external translator.
From his first posting in Dublin Castle, where Ó Cocláin “learned invaluable experience”, he then moved closer to home and the mainland village of An Cheathrú Rua in 2010. He has been on full-time duty on Inis Mór since 2021.
The three Aran Islands and An Garda Síochána’s commitment to community engagement was marked on a wet and breezy day in early October when Ó Cocláin, with the support of his two colleagues at Cill Ronáin Garda station, championed a proposal to showcase the unique importance of inter-agency co-operation on the islands.
It also provided an exciting educational experience for the 300 schoolchildren from all three islands who gathered at Inis Mór’s harbour for a series of displays and interactive sessions.
Whilst it may have been a first for all the students from the three islands to gather, it was also a historic moment for two gardaí from the Mounted Unit, Peter King and Katy Daly Ó Broin.
“The last time there were mounted police on the island was in 1911 when the RIC were stationed here,” Ó Cocláin says.
The dog unit’s Gunner also proved to be a favourite with the schoolchildren.
Other events involved the Coast Guard and RNLI conducting a joint helicopter and lifeboat rescue demonstration, while the Fire Service performed a live vehicle cut-out exercise.
“There was such great support from the outset with Pleanáil Teanga Árann and Comharchumann Forbartha Árann giving financial assistance to cover transport and logistical costs, including charter ferries for students and specialist garda vehicles,” he says.
The relationship between the emergency services and the gardaí is particularly important with Ó Cocláin acting as the islands’ launch authority, which means he must give final approval for the tasking of the RNLI’s Severn Class lifeboat to assist in an emergency on sea or on the islands.
“This lifeboat is often the busiest boat around the coastline. We had 58 call-outs last year. It is important to remember that these crews are volunteers with jobs but with over 3,000 visitors each day to the islands from mid-May to September there are challenges. You can imagine with 2,000 bikes on Inis Mór alone there are a lot of call-outs associated with bicycle accidents,” he says.
Up the coast in Donegal, native Irish speaker Siobhán Campbell has been in the force for 28 years. Over her career she has had postings with the United Nations in Cyprus and in stations in Monaghan, Cavan and Oranmore in Co Galway. From the Gaeltacht parish of Gleann Finne (Glenfin), she applied to be stationed at home and is now attached to the station in An Clochán Liath (Dungloe).
“There are three of us covering a very large rural area, which includes Árainn Mhór island and we also work with the two gardaí stationed in Falcarragh and Dunfanaghy,” she says.
“There are naturally unique challenges when you are policing a large and remote rural area. When I was stationed in Oranmore, for example, and there was an emergency, you had help on your doorstep immediately. Here, it could be 40 minutes before the relevant support arrives and that dictates how you manage the situation,” says Campbell.
Campbell is involved in fostering the Irish language in the area and features each week on a Raidió na Gaeltachta programme, Barrscéalta, alerting people to events and happenings in the area.
“Colleagues who don’t have the same proficiency in the language often ask me to facilitate the Garda Schools Programme in the Gaeltacht schools. People who speak Irish, no matter what age, prefer to be addressed in Irish. I think it makes them more comfortable,” she says.
She is also a volunteer with the Garda-led Little Blue Heroes Foundation, an Irish charity that supports children with serious illnesses.
“Along with some of my own family members, we brought three of them out to Árainn Mhór for a Garda Clinic during the summer,” she says.
Interestingly, Campbell observes that so-called blow-ins or returnees are often more strict about the use of the language.
“There are a lot of people who have returned from Scotland or have relocated from Northern Ireland who expect to be addressed in Irish,” says Campbell.
Like many of her colleagues, she is committed to An Garda Síochána’s Irish Language Strategy but notes that from her experience spoken Irish is proliferating beyond the boundaries of the gaeltachtaí.
Meanwhile, An Garda Síochána confirmed at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting last month that fewer than half of the 89 gardaí assigned to Irish-speaking gaeltachtaí have the ability to work through Irish.
It reports that gaeltachtaí in Connemara and Kerry have large numbers of fluent Irish speakers but there are significant shortages of such gardaí in the Donegal and Mayo gaeltachtaí.
Speaking at the time, Fianna Fáil TD Pat “the Cope” Gallagher, whose base is the Donegal Gaeltacht, said his priority was to get more guards into rural stations in his constituency and in the Gaeltacht.
“Those guards should have fluency in Irish. I see that the percentage in Donegal is much less than in west Galway and in west Kerry. I would hope that, through time, this would be rectified,” he said.
In reference to the Donegal Gaeltacht, a Garda spokesman said that: “An Garda Síochána is satisfied that there is a policing service available through Irish in all Gaeltacht stations in Co Donegal currently operating with public office hours.”
He cited the force’s ongoing commitment to its Irish Language Strategy 2022-2025 and the dedicated recruitment process, which “currently holds up to 10 per cent of all intakes for fluent Irish speakers”.
