Community saddened by tragic death of model garda
Credit: Photos by Ted Creedon
Wednesday March 03 2010
DONAL THE community in West Kerry and beyond is still coming to terms with the sudden death of Sergeant Brendan Sheehan last Wednesday.
Sergeant Sheehan (48) had been based in Dingle since the summer of 2007, having previously served in Limerick, Clare and in Ballyduff.
He was raised in Castleisland where his father, also Brendan, was the Sergeant in Charge.
Garda Sheehan, who served with the United Nations Peacekeeping forces in Kosovo and Croatia in 1997/98, came to the Kerry Garda Division in 2003 and set up home in Castlegregory with his wife Ann and children Aoife, Aaron and David. The family were devastated by the sudden death in 2006 of Aoife, aged 19, who was then a student at IT Tralee.
Hundreds of gardaí, relatives and friends attended Sgt Sheehan's Requiem Mass in St Mary's Church, Castlegregory, on Sunday which was concelebrated by Fr William Crean, Canon Tomás Looney and Fr James Walsh.
Health Minister Mary Harney, a friend of the Sheehan family, attended the Mass as did Assistant Garda Commissioners Fintan Fanning and Willie Keane.
The church was filled to capacity and hundreds of people gathered outside the building and on the street to hear the service on a public address system.
"The Sheehan family have been ambushed again by grief so soon after the loss of Aoife but Brendan is with her now. Brendan dedicated his life to his family. Serving as a guardian of the peace requires a delicate sense of balance in a noble vocation," Fr Crean told the congregation.
The deceased's brother, John, spoke on behalf of the Sheehan family.
"Brendan was married to Ann for 25 years and bought her flowers every month on pay day. He was a devoted husband and father and his parents, Brendan and Stella, were always proud of him. He never left a colleague down. He loved his profession and on the day he died he had remarked to his colleagues, "Isn't what we do better than working!," he said.
Sgt Sheehan's coffin, draped in the Tricolour and his garda cap, was carried from Castlegregory Church to the waiting hearse by his garda colleagues.
A garda car and two motorcycle gardaí led the funeral procession to Killiney graveyard where the flag was presented to Ann Sheehan by Superintendent Pat Sullivan and 10 year-old David Sheehan was presented with his father's cap.
Following prayers at the graveside, Brendan Sheehan was laid to rest with his daughter Aoife.
Three buglers and a drummer, members of the Garda Band under Inspector Pat Kenny, sounded out The Last Post and Reveille.
Brendan Sheehan is survived by his wife Ann and sons Aaron and David, his parents Brendan and Stella, sisters Siobhán and Olivia and brothers John, Mark and Ray.
Sergeant Joe Joyce of Dingle told The Kerryman that Sergeant Sheehan's untimely death is a great loss to the force.
"He was a man for whom I had great personal time. He was a man of the highest integrity and we worked very closely together. He was dedicated to his family, the job and life itself. He'll be sadly and greatly missed," he said.
- TED CREEDON NOLAN AND
