27 thoughts on “Martin, Gentleman Guard”

  3. Ok, once everyone has declared that they know this fella by posting succint good wishes and “legend”, “good man Martin” etc. etc., can someone kindly explain why this guy is such a hero and acquired such a fan-base?

    • But in fairness there is also alot of content on BS which concerns people/stories which are central only to Dublin City folk, where us country folk wouldn’t understand, because we are absolute dopes. So let Martin be a legend and get regognised for being a legend. Why is he? He is not like the rest, at all. Hes incredibly nice.

  5. ….just realised I haven’t been through Carrickmacross since the motorway opened. Martin was always on the road outside the Garda station. Always wondered about him. The Irish Times piece explains a lot. Now that’s one pension I don’t resent.

  6. Martin is a gem and to all those who have met him and know him he brightens up your day, rain, sun, snow or storm he’s out there with a massive smile on his face. Lovely family too.

  8. Firstly, to state, I’ve nothing against this man or the Gardai, as most of them do a great job.
    I wish him well, but I remember driving through Carrick over 15 years ago and wondering why was this allowed?
    Why do we tolerate a situation where a man stands on a Street and waves traffic up and down, when it is not needed?
    One of the reasons this country is a joke, and broke.
    Good luck with your retirement.

    • Would you prefer him sitting in the station watching day time tv??? Carrick is a small town hardly crime capital of the country… so would you like him to earn his wage cheering people up whilst assisting the flow of traffic or using your tax payers money to enjoy a mug of tea, rich tea biscuit and a dose of Jeremy Kyle??

    • He is out on the street, deterring crime and looking out for trouble. Is it better if every Guard stays in the station, waiting to be called?

  9. He was in a car crash years ago and couldn’t return to full active duty it would seem. Fair enough, he could be sitting at home getting sick pay if he wanted

    Seems like a nice bloke who loves his job and to be honest we could probably do with a few more nice Guards like him.

  10. Off topic, but why does everyone call them guards now? They’re not guards, they’re Gardai, or they’re police officers, the bloke that minds the car park is a guard.
    Best of luck with retirement etc.

    • It’s shorter than “Civic Guard” or “Guardian of the Peace” if you choose to use a derivative of the English-language title? I don’t know why people call pissoirs “toilets” these days but I’m happy to go along with it as long as people can understand what I’m pointing at.

  11. Ah I think I met the guy once, about six years ago going through Carrick. There was a bit of a traffic jam with a truck trying to either get out of or reverse into a spot, can’t remember. But it was a nice day, I had the window rolled down and had stopped near him. He was talking to the driver of the car in front and seen my SO plates and came over with a smile and a “How’s all in Sligo?”. Had a chat with him for about 5 minutes about The Rovers and our shít GAA team and I went on my way with a smile, it was contagious. Probably no harm admitting now my tax was out of date that day but I hope he enjoys his retirement.

  13. This reminds me of last Friday evening when I rang Monaghon Gardai station to see what roads were like as I was thinking of travelling down to Dublin.
    The fellow on the other end was pleasant as could be and we chatted for a few minutes about the weather. So there’s more than one Monaghan garda with a good personality!

  14. Everyone say’s martin is a gentleman , well he is ! but also straight. honest, caring , helpful, made you feel safe , is it not a rare thing that instead of being scared of seeing a garda even though you know did nothing wrong , we were always happy to see Martin on the street, A simple hello sir how are you today did actually mean a lot to people , i believe Martin on his own changed peoples perception on garda in general . he is and will always be a legend in Carrickmacross, Best of luck martin , ,no replacement will be the same ,