When Mayo garda Tom Fleming was in training in the garda college at Templemore, he was only a few months behind Garry Sheehan, the garda recruit killed by the IRA in Derrada Wood, December 1983.
“That was the time of the Don Tidy kidnapping in Ballinamore in Leitrim.
"Gary Sheehan was in the first half of my class, they had their exams at Christmas time. So they were sent down to Derrada Wood during the searching,” says Tom, reflecting on the shock felt by the new recruits in Templemore at the time.
“How close any of us that were there could have come to being in that wood. That continued for me for the next 15 years, we lived with people getting shot and killed, bombs and searches.”
The life of a garda in Ireland has changed radically since then. For Tom, stationed in Partry in Co Mayo, he says his job is a daily adventure.
“When I get into the station the first port of call is the computer; open it up, check your emails, see if somebody is looking for you,” says Tom, who often milks the cows at home before clocking on for a morning shift.
“When you open up your screen the first thing that comes up is a list of the incidents for me to deal with. The green ones are still a work in progress, the red ones should have been dealt with. #
"The ones with the ticks beside them are dealt with but haven’t been reviewed off. This is only a recent development in the last two years.”
After 35 years on the job, Tom says every day there is always something new to deal with. In a rural area, he often finds himself taking on the role of mediator in a dispute between neighbours.
For example, he recently dealt with a complaint about a crowbanger.
“The first question you have to ask is, ‘Is it necessary?’ and the farmer says, ‘Yes, I have reseeded this ground and intend to cut it for silage but the crows are turning over the sods’.
"You can appreciate where he’s coming from so you ask him to turn it off at night time, turn it on in the morning and have it on as little as possible. He agreed to that, and that’s as much as we can do.
“We deal with trespassing, deer getting killed on the road and all of that sort of superficial stuff. No different to the crowbanger, it’s a nuisance to some people.”
Last year, Tom dealt with a farmer whose bulls were repeatedly breaking out onto the road. When the case was brought to court, his superintendent noted that the case was in safe hands because Tom himself is a farmer as well as a garda.
“These were two-year-old bulls, not castrated or de-horned, and no fencing. I came on these two fighting just driving along in the patrol car. So I herded them into a corner, took the herd numbers off them. It was straight to the DVO in Castlebar and took a statement to say who owned the cattle. I rang him (the farmer) and said, ‘Your bulls were out on the road, you’re in bother’. He was charged with allowing his animals to wonder and was before the courts within a couple of days.
“I look at it as an adventure, all of these things take a bit of time, but if it works out right at the end of the day that’s the important thing.”
Rural policing
The closure of garda stations has had an effect on the security people feel in their homes, says Tom. With gardaí covering larger areas now, it’s difficult for new recruits to get to know everyone in a community.
“I was stationed in Aughnacliffe in north Longford and it’s very similar to here; fishing, shooting, tourists and that sort of thing. Over the 13 years I was there, I’d say there wasn’t a house I wasn’t in, I knew everyone.
It was terrible, I had a state-of-the-art building, great facilities in the centre of the community that just closed
"Then I was stationed in Tourmakeady and during the recession that closed down.
"It was terrible, I had a state-of-the-art building, great facilities in the centre of the community that just closed. It was 10 miles from the station to the furthest end of the district.”
Tom now covers both the Tourmakeady area as well as Partry. He’s fortunate that he already knows that area.
But for a new garda coming in the first problem is “getting to the back of that district you’d get nervous because you could get lost out there. There’s no phone coverage, no Google maps, so you need to know where you are”.
Small community
Living just four miles from the Partry garda station, Tom is conscious of the fact that he knows a lot of the locals, which could make them uncomfortable reporting an issue to him.
“It’s not simple when you have somebody that you know really well and they’re on the wrong side of an argument that’s taking place.
Garda Tom Fleming at Party Garda station, Co Mayo. \ Odile Evans
"But there’s myself and Sergeant Gerry Flannery here and if it’s somebody that’s too close to me, he can deal with it or we’d get someone from Castlebar to deal with it.”
However, being close to home has its benefits as the family dairy and beef farm is only over the road.
“I help out whenever I’m available. If I’m on at 7am, then generally I have the milking done before I go to work.
"Same again in the evening, and if not one of the children will do it. I have four girls and one boy, any or all of them can lend a hand.”
New recruits
Tom is a great advocate for a career in An Garda Siochana. He says he has seen the finest people rise up the ranks. What should a new recruit aim for?
“To become commissioner of course,” laughs Tom. “If you are good at what you do then you have every prospect of getting to the top in this job. It’s an equal opportunities employer.”
Over his career Tom has been stationed in a number of places including Aughnacliffe and Belmullet.
Gardaí keep doing what gardaí do, trying to do the best for the community they are in
While those places weren’t as close to the family home as he might have liked, he was eventually was moved back to Mayo.
“Gardaí keep doing what gardaí do, trying to do the best for the community they are in. It has been a great job for me, I hated going to school with a passion,” says Tom, who didn’t do the Leaving Certificate before doing his entrance exam for the garda training college in Templemore.
“I’ve never had a day here where I’ve been afraid or worried about anything. It’s been fantastic.”
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When Mayo garda Tom Fleming was in training in the garda college at Templemore, he was only a few months behind Garry Sheehan, the garda recruit killed by the IRA in Derrada Wood, December 1983.
“That was the time of the Don Tidy kidnapping in Ballinamore in Leitrim.
"Gary Sheehan was in the first half of my class, they had their exams at Christmas time. So they were sent down to Derrada Wood during the searching,” says Tom, reflecting on the shock felt by the new recruits in Templemore at the time.
“How close any of us that were there could have come to being in that wood. That continued for me for the next 15 years, we lived with people getting shot and killed, bombs and searches.”
The life of a garda in Ireland has changed radically since then. For Tom, stationed in Partry in Co Mayo, he says his job is a daily adventure.
“When I get into the station the first port of call is the computer; open it up, check your emails, see if somebody is looking for you,” says Tom, who often milks the cows at home before clocking on for a morning shift.
“When you open up your screen the first thing that comes up is a list of the incidents for me to deal with. The green ones are still a work in progress, the red ones should have been dealt with. #
"The ones with the ticks beside them are dealt with but haven’t been reviewed off. This is only a recent development in the last two years.”
After 35 years on the job, Tom says every day there is always something new to deal with. In a rural area, he often finds himself taking on the role of mediator in a dispute between neighbours.
For example, he recently dealt with a complaint about a crowbanger.
“The first question you have to ask is, ‘Is it necessary?’ and the farmer says, ‘Yes, I have reseeded this ground and intend to cut it for silage but the crows are turning over the sods’.
"You can appreciate where he’s coming from so you ask him to turn it off at night time, turn it on in the morning and have it on as little as possible. He agreed to that, and that’s as much as we can do.
“We deal with trespassing, deer getting killed on the road and all of that sort of superficial stuff. No different to the crowbanger, it’s a nuisance to some people.”
Last year, Tom dealt with a farmer whose bulls were repeatedly breaking out onto the road. When the case was brought to court, his superintendent noted that the case was in safe hands because Tom himself is a farmer as well as a garda.
“These were two-year-old bulls, not castrated or de-horned, and no fencing. I came on these two fighting just driving along in the patrol car. So I herded them into a corner, took the herd numbers off them. It was straight to the DVO in Castlebar and took a statement to say who owned the cattle. I rang him (the farmer) and said, ‘Your bulls were out on the road, you’re in bother’. He was charged with allowing his animals to wonder and was before the courts within a couple of days.
“I look at it as an adventure, all of these things take a bit of time, but if it works out right at the end of the day that’s the important thing.”
Rural policing
The closure of garda stations has had an effect on the security people feel in their homes, says Tom. With gardaí covering larger areas now, it’s difficult for new recruits to get to know everyone in a community.
“I was stationed in Aughnacliffe in north Longford and it’s very similar to here; fishing, shooting, tourists and that sort of thing. Over the 13 years I was there, I’d say there wasn’t a house I wasn’t in, I knew everyone.
It was terrible, I had a state-of-the-art building, great facilities in the centre of the community that just closed
"Then I was stationed in Tourmakeady and during the recession that closed down.
"It was terrible, I had a state-of-the-art building, great facilities in the centre of the community that just closed. It was 10 miles from the station to the furthest end of the district.”
Tom now covers both the Tourmakeady area as well as Partry. He’s fortunate that he already knows that area.
But for a new garda coming in the first problem is “getting to the back of that district you’d get nervous because you could get lost out there. There’s no phone coverage, no Google maps, so you need to know where you are”.
Small community
Living just four miles from the Partry garda station, Tom is conscious of the fact that he knows a lot of the locals, which could make them uncomfortable reporting an issue to him.
“It’s not simple when you have somebody that you know really well and they’re on the wrong side of an argument that’s taking place.
Garda Tom Fleming at Party Garda station, Co Mayo. \ Odile Evans
"But there’s myself and Sergeant Gerry Flannery here and if it’s somebody that’s too close to me, he can deal with it or we’d get someone from Castlebar to deal with it.”
However, being close to home has its benefits as the family dairy and beef farm is only over the road.
“I help out whenever I’m available. If I’m on at 7am, then generally I have the milking done before I go to work.
"Same again in the evening, and if not one of the children will do it. I have four girls and one boy, any or all of them can lend a hand.”
New recruits
Tom is a great advocate for a career in An Garda Siochana. He says he has seen the finest people rise up the ranks. What should a new recruit aim for?
“To become commissioner of course,” laughs Tom. “If you are good at what you do then you have every prospect of getting to the top in this job. It’s an equal opportunities employer.”
Over his career Tom has been stationed in a number of places including Aughnacliffe and Belmullet.
Gardaí keep doing what gardaí do, trying to do the best for the community they are in
While those places weren’t as close to the family home as he might have liked, he was eventually was moved back to Mayo.
“Gardaí keep doing what gardaí do, trying to do the best for the community they are in. It has been a great job for me, I hated going to school with a passion,” says Tom, who didn’t do the Leaving Certificate before doing his entrance exam for the garda training college in Templemore.
“I’ve never had a day here where I’ve been afraid or worried about anything. It’s been fantastic.”
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A Day in the Life of: a mechanic on the harvest
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