Corrib protestor and five gardaí among recipients of State bravery awards

Five gardaí, two students, a Scout leader and a fisherman who was jailed over a Corrib gas protest are among the recipients of State bravery awards due to be presented today.

Three silver medals, eight bronze medals and 21 certificates of “recognition” will be conferred on 21 recipients at Farmleigh House, Dublin, by Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett.

Some 16 individual acts of bravery, dating back to 1987, were approved for the awards by Comhairle na Mire Gaile, the Deeds of Bravery Council, which was formed in 1947 as a form of State honours system.

The Garda Commissioner, the Irish Red Cross chairman and lord mayors of Dublin and Cork are among members of the council, chaired by Mr Barrett.

Two Co Cork students, Cillian Mahon and Ryane Twomey, are among the silver medallists. They were celebrating Leaving Certificate results in August 2011 when they noticed a fire in a Fermoy apartment and took two people to safety.

A Kildare resident, David McCormack, who rescued his neighbour from a fire in August 2011, will also receive a silver medal and bravery certificate.

'Treacherous'
Five gardaí and three civilians are receiving bronze medals and bravery certificates for rescuing people from the water. Among these incidents is the rescue by Garda Joseph Hayes of a woman from the river Shannon in June last year, in conditions described as "treacherous".

Connemara native Pádraic Manning is due to receive a bronze medal for rescuing a young girl from the sea at Dingle, Co Kerry, in July 2007.

Garda Pádraig McWeeney and Garda James Rowan from Granard station in Co Longford rescued a woman from the water at Tarmonbarry, Co Roscommon, in August 2010, while Garda James Hanley assisted a woman who had jumped into the river Fergus in Ennis, Co Clare in January this year.

Garda John Reilly also saved a woman from the water in Drogheda, Co Louth, in August 2011; John O’Flynn rescued a man from the river Lee in Cork city in February 2011; and Arthur Duff pulled a man and a woman from the Royal Canal near his home in Dublin’s North Strand in September 2007.

Fisherman Pat O’Donnell, whose boat was sunk in controversial circumstances off north Mayo in June 2009 and who was jailed for seven months in 2010 for his part in Corrib gas protest-related incidents in 2008, is due to be conferred with a certificate.

Cave rescue
He, his brother Martin and Irish Coast Guard members Seán McHale and Martin Kavanagh are being honoured for their role in the rescue of Tony and Carmel Murphy and their then 11-year-old daughter Emma from a cave off Belderrig, north Mayo, in October 1997.

Skerries unit Scout leader Elizabeth Barrett, who rescued a colleague from the water at Lough Key, Co Roscommon in July 1999, is also among the recipients, as is Yvonne Donovan, who assisted a young man who had been injured in a stabbing in Wexford in June 2001.

ROLL OF HONOUR

SILVER MEDALLISTS
David McCormack Rescued neighbour from a fire in Kildare, August 2011. Cillian Mahon and Ryane Twomey Rescued two people from a fire in Fermoy, August 2011.

BRONZE MEDALLISTS
Arthur Duff Rescued two people from Royal Canal, Dublin, September 2007. John O'Flynn Rescued a man from river Lee, Cork, February 2011. Pádraic Manning Rescued young girl from Dingle harbour, Co Kerry, July 2007. Garda Joseph Hayes Rescued woman from Shannon, Limerick, June 2012. Garda Pádraig McWeeney and Garda James Rowan Rescued woman from water at Tarmonbarry,
Co Roscommon, August 2010. Garda James Hanley Rescued woman from river Fergus, Ennis, Co Clare, January 2013. Garda John Reilly Rescued woman from Boyne river in Drogheda,
Co Louth, August 2011.

BRAVERY CERTIFICATES
Elizabeth Barrett Rescued fellow Scout leader from Lough Key, Co Roscommon, July 1999. Michael Carroll Rescued woman from Castletown river, Dundalk, Co Louth, October 1998. Padraig Corcoran Saved friend injured while duck shooting, Lough Ree, Co Roscommon, September 1987.
Maurice Kelleher Rescued two brothers, aged 11 and 14, from water in Youghal, Co Cork, August 2000. Yvonne Donovan Assisted man injured in stabbing in Wexford town, June 2001. Aideen Ryan Rescued man from boat off Doran's Point, Co Mayo, May 2002. Seán McHale, Martin Kavanagh, Pat and Martin O'Donnell Rescued three people from cave in Belderrig, Co Mayo, October 1997.

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