Garda Tony Golden posthumously awarded Scott Medal for bravery

The late Garda Tony Golden, who lost his life when intervening in a domestic violence incident in 2015, has been awarded the highest possible award for bravery in the force.

The gold Scott Medal was posthumously awarded to Garda Golden (36) at a Garda graduation ceremony in Templemore on Friday, just over two years after he was fatally shot by dissident republican Adrian Crevan Mackin at a house in Omeath, Co Louth.

His wife Nicola was present at the ceremony to receive the medal on his behalf, one of seven gold Scott medals presented on the day, along with three silver Scott medals and seven bronze medals.

Det Gda Dominick Hutchin, who was shot in the face while foiling an armed robbery at the Labour Exchange in North Cumberland Street, Dublin 1, in 1987, was also awarded a gold Scott Medal.

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Ambush

A garda who was killed in an IRA ambush in Co Laois in 1976 and four colleagues who were seriously injured were also awarded the gold Scott medal for exceptional courage and bravery. They travelled to a derelict house at Garryhinch, outside Portarlington, after an anonymous phonecall told them that a gang had gathered there with the intention of kidnapping and killing prominent politician Oliver J Flanagan.

Garda Michael Clerkin was killed in an explosion at the booby-trapped derelict house in Garryhinch.

Garda Clerkin was posthumously awarded the gold Scott medal. The other gardaí involved in the operation who also sustained injuries – Det Garda Ben Thornton, Det Garda Thomas Peters, Sgt James Cannon, and Garda Gerry Bohan – also received the gold medal for exceptional courage and bravery.

Flanagan, a subsequent minister for defence, was father of current Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, who presented the medals in Templemore and said it was "a deeply personal and poignant moment" for himself, recalling the day of the tragedy. "I remember that night as if it were yesterday," Mr Flanagan said in Templemore.

Others to receive silver medals were Sgt Deborah Marsh and Garda Gerard Brassil for their courage and bravery during an incident in which an intoxicated van driver shot himself with a rifle.