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FAMILY AND COLLEAGUES of detective garda Jerry McCabe are gathering in Adare, Co Limerick to mark 20 years since his death at the hands of the IRA.
McCabe was killed when he was shot three times with an AK47 by a number of IRA members who were attempting to rob a post office in the town.
Another detective garda Ben O’Sullivan was injured in the hail of bullets.
This morning, 20 years on from that day, O’Sullivan joined Garda McCabe’s widow Anne McCabe as well as current and former gardaí at a memorial service at Adare Garda Station.
At a commemoration ceremony Ann McCabe, along with her daughter Stacey, laid flowers outside the station.
Members of the force performed a guard of honour and members of the Garda Band played a haunting rendition of the hymn, Abide With Me, which was sung at Det McCabe’s funeral mass.
Chief Superintendent David Sheahan, who laid a wreath, led senior members of the Limerick Garda Division, including Superintendent Derek Smart, Superintendent Tom O’Connor, and Superintendent Jim Ryan, in a minutes silence at 6.55am.
“For me, today is the same as 20 years ago on June 7th,” Ann McCabe said speaking afterwards.
Nothing ever changes, but you learn to live with it and get on with it.
Speaking publicly for the first time since that day, Ann O’Sullivan, wife of retired Detective Garda Ben O’Sullivan, said: “I found it very hard today.”
It brought back every hour of this time twenty years ago. It brought tears.
The killing of Garda McCabe provoked shock around the country 20 years ago, coming four months after the Provisional IRA called off its first ceasefire.
Ms O’Sullivan, who at the time worked as a nurse in the accident and emergency department at Limerick Regional Hospital, said:
I was off work that day and I got a phone call from a colleague of mine…she said I’ve bad news for you.I just got up from bed and went straight out to the hospital, and then I heard all the bad news, that Jerry had passed away and Ben was in Resus.
“You can imagine it was crazy… It was horrendous,” she added.
McCabe’s daughter Stacey, wept as she paid tribute to her late father.
“In the midst of sadness, we pray for thanksgiving for the inspiration and example we received in and through Dad,” she said.
We pray in thanksgiving for the love, light, and laughter he brought to our lives.
An emotional Ben O’Sullivan explained that he and Garda McCabe joined the detective branch on the same day and nearly always “worked as a team”.
“This morning’s ceremony has brought me to my knees really,” he said, adding that the shooting in 1996 was still “crystal clear in my head”.
You’re never expected to forget something like that. You’re not supposed to forget that. You’re supposed to take up the gauntlet and accept that it happened; you cannot turn the clock backwards.
He said he had “come to terms” with “the atrocity that took place this morning 20 years ago”, but “will never forget what happened”.
Four men were convicted of the manslaughter of McCabe, they are: Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O’Neill, Kevin Walsh and Pearse McAuley.
All four were subsequently released after serving their sentence with McAuley last year jailed again for 12 years following a violent assault on his wife in which she was left with 13 stab wounds.
Speaking in the Dail in 2013, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams issued an apology on behalf of the republican movement for the death of Gerry McCabe and other Irish security forces who died during the Northern Ireland conflict.
- With reporting from David Raleigh.
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That’s some hole
Kick in the hole for Tramore…
Good old Irish built roads.
A thin layer of tarmac laid on base of quicksand.
€250 million in Government funding sought by TD Michael Healy Rae to repair it.
No way…hes photoshopped into it..perspective is all wrong…and there isnt any footprints on his way in…fake (i think).
Holy Broken Road Batman!
Yeah looks pretty shopped
Don’t think it is as you can see light coming from the bottom, he prob went in from the bottom of the hole, beach side. There would be no footprints in that case.
Its not shopped. Thats my home town.
Yep. In comparison to the clear car parking lines. Unless it’s a magic hole. I’d be on for that.
That’s nuts. We turned the car in that exact spot last night. I must have put on a few pounds over Christmas!
Look at that skim layer of tarmac. Cowboy builders.
Cowboys Ted! They’re a bunch of cowboys!
They should call that one Kim Khardashian!
That’s a horrible thing to say about the hole
Terrible thing to say about a hole indeed
She always gets her hole …
Maggie act like a lady
Good god are you stuck for words? You wouldn’t say that if you had the pleasure of her company tonight… She’s a very attractive woman regardless of size. And she’s after having a baby! My god, how shallow can you get…
She’s a hobbit though.
A hobbit? Hairy feet? Haha never heard that one before.
Is there anything worse than when you get sand in your hole???…………
It’s bye, bye if that collapses pal
Should be upgraded to a class three like the holy stone
it is not wise to stand in such a pit, as it may collapse and kill you. It is not safe.
Lots of damage done here in Ballybunion, but don’t worry, it’ll be all fixed for the summer! Glad nothing happened to when he was in the hole-he’s the actor from the Kilmeaden ads so need to keep him alive.
Meant to say “glad nothing happened to Richard!”
Bundoran is alright jack.
hope all is well. Love Ballyb, go there every summer :)
Kerry county council have just put an order in for 1000 packets of jammy dodgers in preparation to fill that hole!oh and a pint of milk for the tea!!
Lads shipment of Lyons tea on the way too
Should have remembered to take the roads in and store them on the east side of the island like they normally do when the weather is bad.
The amount of giving out (rightly so) about people going near the coast. Yet this lad jumps into a collapsed hole that could do so again
People do anything for five secs of fame !
You people need to live a little and stop being so safe and boring. Nothing happened and you have no idea how safe or unsafe it was. If people didn’t do risky things every now and then we’d never have left our caves. Try living on the edge just once in your lives and you might actually enjoy it!
Try telling that to the peoplr rescuing fools taking photos of waves
…
You moaning again
U talking again …
Maggie-the guy (Richard Wall) in the photo is a very talented actor who frequently appears on BBC and RTE TV shows and movies, so it makes your 5 seconds of fame comment seem redundant. If you followed his twitter then you’d see he surfs, snowboards, does cliff jumping etc so while he likes adventure sports which are risky, he’s far from wreckless and wouldn’t have risked his life or the life of anyone else. So lighten up and stop giving out on every story you see. Have a nice night.
Right lets all jump into a hole coz someone on twitter did it .il comment on wat I want 6degrees so don’t patronise me ,
That must be photo shopped , if not you’d want to be off your chuck to get in to it !
Ten corporation workers all standing around breast feeding shovels for a week that’s the plan
Ballybunion, lovely place, hole of a town
Me own hole is far sexier than that one #Tramorehole
A new tourist attraction right there.
A holy hole!
Idiot
The road is like an apple pie…
What a clown jumping into the hole do people have brains anymore
he didn’t jump, he walked in to it from the opening behind him. read the article, and look at the picture
Read the article, brian? Are you MAD? There are photos, that’s all I need to see!
Dont forget your shovel if you want to go to work.
He is in his hole.
Punctuate accordingly
Are the council looking into it yet?
Funny
How is that not blocked off? Thats the road that all people holidaying use to walk to beach at night! I love Tramore!!! The people who live there and i mean original people are lovely :)
The journals obsession with holes is becoming a worry. I believe they are trying to turn it into a regular feature. After seeing the producers of Time Team making a successful program for years now about various holes in the ground . (all of which they dug themselves btw) The journal are getting notions and trying to do similar. Their agenda is clear. I for one won’t be part of this farce. Goodnight to you Madam .
They obviously got the Joyces to do that job. Couldn’t tarmac to save their lives, coked up to Dep. Huzzodongs will do twice the jab for half the price sur. No messing.
As bill clinton might say
“Its a hole in one”
Brilliant!!!
Not brilliant!!!
hole in one? ah here
That’s a big hole to fill.
I keep expecting a giant hand to swoop in and pick him up!
Is he in the hole of his health
Thats a real hole
Shit! That is a big hole.
Fake photos!!
Holey Moley 2.
@ journal
They are SINKHOLES not pot holes
Jasus…. the hole on that!
Morto for Eggfuel who just got owned and must feel like a complete idiot with his little conspiracy theories. There’s always one!
Ask me hole
Ballybunion council miss read the request of a glory hole from the locals…
i would like to throw Bruton, Kenny , Gilmore ,Hogan , Varadakar, Howlin and big fat Rabitte in there and put a 20 cm cap of cement.
Golfing parlance !
holey moley!
Photoshopped for definite. Or else he’s a midget.
Nothing photoshopped about it. I think you need to learn the difference between small and far away……
I personally wouldn’t go in any hole without first doing a gas test and checking that the oxygen level is ok.
Really
Is it a free for all on pics sent into the journal…
Thought is was credible news site…
Photo shopped work is now republished as fact….
Irresponsible to say the least
The people who say it’s photoshopped obviously don’t know anything about photoshopping. The article states that there is a hole at the bottom which allowed him to go in so it obviously wasn’t that difficult to get the photo. A lot easier than photoshopping it with zero errors from what I can see and I work with Photoshop for a living.
That’s the point of photoshop… It’s meant to fool the eye… What planet are you on… Take the scale from the white line on the tar surface… Unless it’s 4ft wide it’s a sign there’s an error to the oi ture and if I read it correctly the chap said he didn’t climb through the hole but either way it’s scaled incorrectly… And if you work for photoshop you should know that it’s quite easy to scale objects without flaws as you call it…
Really love the Irish logic…
It’s incorrect..
End of conversation
There’s a video of it up on Facebook as well. What do you think they did there? Maybe it was cgi? Or maybe you’re just wrong? Now that’s the end of the conversation Eggfool!
Can you provide the link please
Looks like the only big hole around here is between your ears Hun.. End of conversation
Hole-d on there a minute. One pic has a hole on the other side butt the next pic has none?
have your say