Moate native 'always tried to help people' in Garda role

During his years of service as a Garda, Brendan Madden's work generally didn't cease when a particular shift came to an end.

A well-known figure in his native Moate and beyond, he could be called upon at home by people looking to speak to him about any number of issues.

"I always liked to help people. That was the most important thing. From when I started, I always thought it was part of my job to assist people every day," said Brendan.

"Everybody in Moate, and around the area, would know me as a guard. They would come to you and ask you for advice all the time. People would ring to ask if I'd do their passports when I'm at home, or they would drop things into the letterbox.

"I took hundreds of phone calls, off duty, from people asking for help or advice, and I never hung up on anybody. I always spoke to them, no matter who it was or what might be involved."

He simply regarded this as part of his role in the community, and over the years he would have worked to assist people who came to him in confidence about sensitive issues such as sexual assaults, marriage break-ups or disputes involving neighbours.

On Monday of this week, that chapter in Brendan's life came to an end when he retired from An Garda Síochána after three decades, having served in Dublin, Mullingar, Kilbeggan, and, most recently, Athlone.

His six years in Athlone were mostly spent working in the courts office. The practical and constructive way he assisted with cases before the district court was appreciated by the late Judge Seamus Hughes, who would sometimes ask him to mediate in certain situations.

Brendan always sought to be fair to people, and to see both sides of a problem. "There's always two sides to every story," he said.

"I think I'm a good judge of character, and I would be dealing with people and solving problems that maybe would not always be seen on Pulse (the Garda database)."

On his last day in court, at the end of July, Judge Bernadette Owens and colleagues from the Gardai, legal profession, and courts service paid tribute to Garda Madden for the contribution he made over the years.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent on his last day as a Garda, he said he'd had "a good 30 years". He was retiring with a degree of reluctance, but changes to his pension entitlements, which would have taken effect had he stayed on, meant it made sense to finish now.

Originally from Main Street in Moate, Brendan is living in Moyvoughley with his wife Martina Reddington, a Garda Sergeant based in Lanesborough.

The couple have two sons and a daughter. All three are now attending Moate Community School; Stephen, Darragh, and the youngest, Ellen, who started in first year on Monday.

Brendan attended the Carmelite College in Moate and, in addition to playing football for his school and his local club in Moate, he lined out for Westmeath at under-16, minor and under-21 level.

He had no family history in the guards, and after completing his Leaving Cert, he went to college in Dublin, studying business security. He got a job working in CP Security, which monitored alarms and provided security for cash in transit vans in the capital.

"I worked quite happily with them from the age of 20 to 24. A few of the lads I worked with there joined the guards, and I joined also. It was something I probably always wanted to do," he recalled.

After graduating from Templemore in 1992, he started working in the Clondalkin area and, the following year, was injured and assaulted during "a serious ramming incident" involving a stolen car. He sustained a severe back injury which has caused him difficulty over the years and required three operations in total.

In 1998, he went to work for the divisional crime taskforce in Blanchardstown for three years, before being transferred back to his native county.

Brendan spent "seven or eight" years in Mullingar. He was next stationed in Kilbeggan, where he enjoyed working for a number of years until he unfortunately sustained another injury on the job in May 2015.

After being called to an incident, he was assaulted by a drink driver who had been "trying to get into a car to drive it." He suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament which required surgery and resulted in him being off duty for a year.

Upon his return to work, he was directed by the force's medical officer not to go back working on the street. Instead he was stationed in the property store in Athlone for a year, before working in the courts office alongside colleagues such as Sergeant Sandra Keane, Sergeant Paul McNally and Garda Fergal Greene.

During his three decades in the force, he worked at the scenes of murders, suicides, sudden deaths and road traffic fatalities.

No matter how difficult the situation, "you always have to be professional, and deal with it, because people are looking to you. The fire brigade and the ambulance service are looking to the guards to coordinate what's happening," he said.

Outside of work, Brendan has been involved in coaching underage teams with Moate All Whites and with the local St Oliver Plunkett's and St Brigid's national schools.

Although he ultimately had to give up contact sports because of his back problems, he has completed numerous triathlons and this is something he hopes to return to again in future.

He is doing some farming, keeping rare Angus heifers and selling them on when they get older.

Brendan is also taking up a part-time security position with the Irish Horse Racing Regulatory Board, a role which began at the Kilbeggan Races meeting today (Friday).