Health before politics for O’Sullivan
“My health was more important to me than embarking on political issues,” said Mr O’Sullivan, who was seriously injured in the gun attack.
“It was something I was wise enough to realise I could not handle, either mentally or emotionally, and I continued on my recovery,” he said, suggesting he did not allow issues such as the early release of the killers to affect his progress to good health.
Next week is the 10th anniversary of the botched post office raid in Adare, Co Limerick. The two plain clothes officers were providing security cover for a cash delivery when they were attacked by a four-man IRA gang.
In an exclusive interview, Mr O’Sullivan tells how he coped since the gun attack.
Of the IRA gang, Pearse McAuley from Strabane and Kevin Walsh from Patrickswell received 14-year sentences, while Jeremiah Sheehy from Rathkeale got 12 years and Michael O’Neill, Patrickswell, was jailed for 11 years when they pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
After suffering multiple bullet wounds, Mr O’Sullivan said he remained clearly focussed all through the months of his recovery.
“I will never be able to forget it but coping with something in the past is an awful lot easier than not being able to cope.
“My way of coping with it was to try and put it behind me and just spend that part of my life that was left ... It wasn’t easy. I tried hard and was privileged to have great family, colleagues and friends.”
He returned to duty 18 months after the attack.
“I was determined to prove to the evil in society that, while I was alive, I would do what I loved doing and that was serving the people of Ireland.”
Currently beef farming and breeding bloodstock in Co Limerick, he said he did not allow recurring controversies about the possible early release of the IRA gang affect him.
“I believe always in having the wisdom to accept the things I cannot change and having the courage to change the things I can.
“But most importantly is the wisdom to know the difference. I knew, and I hope I will continue to know, that whatever happens in the political world I have no control over it.
“I never tried to have control over it because my health was more important to me than embarking on political issues... It was something I was wise enough to realise I could not handle, either mentally or emotionally, and I continued on my recovery. I did not allow issues like that [early prison releases] to abate my progress during the recovery time.”
Asked what he thought of the people who shot him and Det Gda McCabe, he replied: “You have a filing cabinet and the purpose of a filing cabinet is to file everything away in that cabinet until it is required. The people who perpetrated this atrocity in Adare — they are in the filing cabinet of my brain. A file that will never be opened, I hope, unless somebody else opens it other than I.”
