Galway In Days Gone By

Arming guards

The question of arming the civic guards has again been raised in view of the recent murder of Guard O’Halloran, a native of Gort, who was shot dead whilst pursuing bank robbers at Baltinglass.

Opinion is divided on the question. Chief Commissioner O’Duffy rightly said in his Oration at the graveside of the dead guard in Gort that the matter was one entirely for the people.

In correspondence in the Press this week it is contended that it is unfair to the guards that they should be targets for every highwayman who passes, and that if they are armed the crime wave in the country will quickly disappear.

Those opposed to arming base their objections on the ground that political capital would be made of the fact by a section opposed to the present Government and that it would lead to a recrudescence of the horrible civil strife of the past few years.

To arm the guards would be, in our opinion, to tamper with the one splendidly successful thing the Government has done, and we do not think the guards themselves have any desire to become an armed force.

Pictured: Noel Hynes, Gerry Mulholland, Rob Daly and Michael Hopkins photographed in January 1994, as they organised a benefit gig in the Salthill Hotel for impoverished children in Calcutta.