Interviewed 17 June 2021
In this piece of audio, Retired Detective Garda Garvan Ware speaks about his decision to join An Garda Síóchána. He reflects on the Gardaí he knew from his youth and also notes that his father, was a member of AGS in the 1940s and 1950s.
RITA DELANEY: I sometimes find it difficult to explain to people why I joined the Guards, why did you join Guards?
GARVAN WARE: I suppose growing up, again it probably goes back to my own parents, I suppose we lived kind of a very happy upbringing, a very happy life but we were always taught to be very respectful of authority. Within Carlow town, I suppose one of the authorities were An Garda Síochána. My memory of them were they were all great men, they were all very much involved with the community. There was a slight link, I suppose we had my own father who was a member of the Guards for about I am going to say roughly 12 or 13 years back. He was a bit older than myself, Rita, he was in the Guards in the late 40s/early 50s. I suppose because of that that was a link you know. I suppose when it came to decision-making time as regards college and things like that it was just one of the things that I was interested in and applied for them and I was lucky enough at the time to get in.
RITA DELANEY: Yeah. I think the motivation for a lot of people might be links between members of An Garda Síochána and the community. The majority, of course, were very, very good and a lot of people wanted to join that job as a result. Did you enjoy your time in Templemore?
MR. WARE: I really enjoyed, like I was young joining, I was probably the youngest in the class or group, I was very immature, looking back, in some ways but it is quite bizarre really as a 19-year-old you could have a 27-year old in the same class or group and sure if they get on they are on a level playing field. I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of it. I thought it was a great experience to be all of sudden with people from all walks of life. It is incredible, like, people maybe have this perception that it is only a certain type of person who joins An Garda Síochána.
RITA DELANEY: Not at all.
MR. WARE: Not at all. They are really from like, you know you think in today’s world that it is people who have third-level qualifications. In my own class, there was two guys who had third-level degrees, honours degrees, or whatever, very clever guys. That was the nice thing about it.
