Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will host the ceremony at Garda HQ in Dublin, which will also be attended by Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
Two recipients of Gold Scott Medals were targeted by gunmen and died in service.
Posthumous Awards for Heroic Gardai
Superintendent John Curtin was on duty on March 21, 1931 and had conducted a late-night inspection of Golden Garda Station in Friarsfield Co Tipperary. When he returned home the gates to his house had been closed and he was ambushed by armed gunmen who shot him a number of times, fatally wounding him. He was unarmed at the time.
He died that same night without regaining consciousness. Despite receiving a threatening letter in November 1930, Superintendent Curtin continued with his duties at a time of great uncertainty in Ireland. In the days prior to his death, he had brought a number of suspects before the Circuit Court in Clonmel in relation to paramilitary activity.
Superintendent Curtin will be posthumously awarded a Gold Scott Medal, as will Detective Sergeant Denis O’Brien who was shot dead while leaving his home in Rathfarnham to attend work at Dublin Castle on September 9, 1942. He found his gates had been closed against him and he was ambushed by a number of men. He managed to draw his weapon and open fire, but was shot by a man with a Thompson machine gun. One gunman was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.
Recognising Exceptional Bravery
A Silver Scott Medal is to be awarded to Garda Timothy McSweeney who on March 24, 2022, responded to a call at a house in Douglas Co Cork, where there was a domestic incident taking place and the injured party was in fear for her safety and that of her children. Garda McSweeney entered the house and spoke with a man who threatened him with a large knife. Garda McSweeney grabbed his wrist with the intention of disarming him, and a violent struggle ensued where Garda McSweeney suffered a number of knife wounds to his arms and an injury to his knee and back when he was dragged to the floor.
Despite his injuries, Garda McSweeney continued to struggle with the man for some time until he managed to get the male onto the ground, drew his baton and restrained him.
A Tribute to Courage and Dedication
Five Bronze Scott Medals will be awarded to Garda Morgan Lahiffe, posthumously, who helped apprehend armed raisers of a shop in Togher, Cork, on August 20, 1971; Sergeant Niamh Connaughton and Detective Garda Warren Farrell, who were threatened at gunpoint while foiling an armed raid at an off-licence in Clondalkin on March 27, 2013; and Inspector Joseph Finnegan and Sergeant Kieran Flynn, who in treacherous conditions recovered the bodies of two men who had become trapped in a sea cave at Belderrig, Co Mayo, on October 25 1997.
The Legacy of Colonel Walter Scott
In 1924, Colonel Walter Scott donated to An Garda Síochána a $1,000 gold bond, in perpetuity, to endow a bravery medal, the Walter Scott Medal, and included the dies from which all Scott medals would be struck.
The Scott Medal is the highest award that can be bestowed by the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána and is awarded for most exceptional bravery and heroism involving the risk of life in the execution of duty.
