McCarthy becomes GRA’s youngest vice-president

A 30-YEAR-OLD man whose brother is a senator yesterday became the youngest ever vice-president of the organisation which represents the county’s 11,000 rank-and-file gardaí.

Damien McCarthy, from Dunmanway, Co Cork, was elected to the post by delegates of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), who were attending their annual conference in Co Carlow.

A number of delegates said his rise up the ladder had been almost meteoric, especially as he was only elected to the GRA’s national executive two years ago.

The younger brother of Labour Senator Michael McCarthy, he joined the gardaí in 2001. After graduating from the Garda Training College in Templemore, Damien was posted to Store Street, Dublin, where he remains today.

In 2004, he married Annmarie Horgan, also from Dunmanway, and the couple live in Drogheda.

Damien, who has three brothers and two sisters, credited his mother, Phyllis, with instilling workers’ rights in him.

“She is a retired psychiatric nurse, but when she was working she was a delegate at her association’s conferences,” he said.

“It was a great honour to be elected to the position of vice-president of the GRA. I will not be afraid to stand up and be counted when it comes to ensuring workers’ rights,” he said.

The appointment will last for the next two years, and Garda McCarthy said during that time he intends to highlight what he sees as serious shortfalls in the pay and working conditions of gardaí.