THE FIRST Garda car to arrive in Bandon, Co Cork, in 1962 was among a collection of Garda memorabilia displayed at Bandon Garda station yesterday.
The navy blue Ford Cortina was flanked by a Model T Ford from 1922. “If something happened on the roads back then, that’s the vehicle [the Model T] you would be investigating as it was the only vehicle on the road. The guard would get to the scene of an accident on his bicycle,” Supt Eddie Mac Eoin said.
Uniforms dating back to the establishment of An Garda Síochána, ledgers, batons, bicycles and medals were also on display as the station opened to the public for tours for the first time to mark 90 years of service.
“We are 90 years in being this year and this is an effort to show people what goes on within the station,” the superintendent said.
“With all the closures of stations, reduction in numbers of gardaí and adverse publicity, I’m just trying to tell people we’ve been here for 90 years and we are here to stay.”
Supt Mac Eoin organised the exhibition, which attracted 80 people in its first hour yesterday. Visitors took a tour of the station’s six cells, interview rooms and holding rooms, where seized drugs and goods are housed, then browsed collections of old photographs, uniforms and Royal Irish Constabulary kit boxes issued to new recruits.