Garda’s rescue of refugees in the Mediterranean to be screened by RTÉ

A hero Garda who was seriously injured when he was attacked by a gang while pursuing a suspect was only weeks back from Greece where he helped rescue desperate refugees from the Mediterranean.

The volunteer efforts of Garda Eoin Cox and his parents, RTÉ reporter Valerie Cox and father, Brian, are captured in a Would You Believe? documentary to be shown on RTÉ One this Sunday.

Just weeks after giving up his holidays to help out with the thousands of Syrian refugees making the perilous crossing to the Greek island of Kos, Garda Cox was beaten and stabbed by up to six men after he pursued a suspected car thief into a South Dublin estate.

The 35-year-old was treated in hospital but is recovering at home where he and his partner are expecting their first baby shortly.

Valerie described how proud she had been of Eoin for dropping everything to travel with his parents to Kos.

The couple first went there last September after deciding they had had enough of watching the suffering on television and should be doing something about it. Eoin returned with them in January where, if anything, the situation had deteriorated further.

“It was -8C one night and people were still arriving in these tiny, flimsy little boats. Eoin would literally have to carry them out. They had nothing left. They were shattered.”

The trio brought with them donations from family and friends and provided the traumatised new arrivals with their immediate basic needs.

“You’re clothing and feeding them because they have absolutely nothing. We’re so small scale but when people have nothing but the child in their arms, the small bit we can do means something.”

Valerie witnessed distressing scenes as people waited for accompanying boats that didn’t arrive — or arrived empty. “When the navy rescues people, they paint the side of the boat white so that you know when it comes ashore, the occupants are OK.

“The worst is when an empty boat washes up and there’s no paint and you have to start watching out for bodies. We found a child’s used life jacket washed up and the feeling of knowing that that child was out in that sea somewhere was just desperate.”

Valerie, who retired from RTÉ this week on her 65th birthday, will be appearing with her family on The Late Late Show tonight.

I have been struck silent by the kindness of colleagues and listeners on my retirement! Thank you all so much! pic.twitter.com/I7mar7pGeW

— Valerie Cox (@Valacox) March 8, 2016

The Would You Believe? special, Exodus, is on RTÉ One at 10.40pm on Sunday night.