Two Gardaí to receive Scott medal for bravery for role in Mayo sea cave rescue

TWO Gardaí are to be awarded Scott medals for their courage while taking part in a sea cave rescue near Belderrig on Mayo's north coast in 1997.

Inspector Joseph Finnegan and Sergeant Kieran Flynn will both receive bronze Scott medals at a ceremony in Dublin this afternoon for their role in a harrowing cave rescue in north Mayo 27 years ago.

The Scott medal is the highest honour that can be bestowed by the Garda Commissioner and is awarded for exceptional heroism involving risk to life.

Both men were members of the Garda Underwater Unit who were tasked with assisting in the rescue of a group of people trapped within a sea cave near Lady's Bay on October 25, 1997.

German national Will Ernst von Below died when his new currach capsized in a sea cave at Horse Island, throwing his friends, Tony and Carmel Murphy and their young daughter Eimear into the sea.

Diver Michael Heffernan, a member of Mayo’s Grainne Uaile Sub Aqua Club also lost his life while trying to rescue the three family members who were trapped in the back of a sea cave.

Following the rescue of the survivors, a daylight operation was launched to recover the bodies of the two men who had not survived and Garda Finnegan and Garda Flynn entered the water with a tow rope and large floating fenders.

They were washed up on rocks at the back of the cave by heavy waves but they managed to locate the bodies of the two deceased men and secured their bodies. They then guided the bodies through the surf to the water's edge on a pre-arranged torch signal to the boat.

Three Scott medals for bravery were awarded to Garda members Ciarán Doyle, David Mulhall and Seán O’Connor for their role in the Belderrig cave rescue, which was one of the longest in recent Coast Guard history and involved about 100 people attached to 21 different services.

National marine bravery awards were also given to the gardai, and to Grainne Uaile diver Josie Barrett, Killala Coast Guard members Séan McHale and Martin Kavanagh and fishermen Martin and Patrick O Donnell.

Garda divers Kieran Flynn and Joseph Mulligan were commended for their role, but were passed over for Scott medals at the time.

At a commemoration in 2022 to mark the 25th anniversary of the rescue, retired Chief Superintendent Anthony McNamara made an appeal to the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris for An Garda Síochána to recognise the bravery of the two gardaí.

Speaking at the ceremony, McNamara said he had recommended that all five Garda divers should receive Scott medals for their efforts, and it was still one of his regrets that the bravery of both men was 'overlooked'.

He asked Commissioner Harris who was present at the ceremony to 'have someone look at it again' adding, “It’s never too late to undo a wrong.”

Eight Scott medals are to be awarded later today to gardaí for bravery in the line of duty, three of them posthumously.