{"id":140590,"date":"2025-11-15T04:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/140590\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T04:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T04:00:08","slug":"how-the-dublin-riots-of-november-2023-inspired-a-broadcaster-to-become-a-garda-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/140590\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Dublin riots of November 2023 inspired a broadcaster to become a garda \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amy N\u00ed Riada was working as a freelance journalist based in east Africa when the Dublin riots<\/a> of November 2023 erupted. Having seen the Garda\u2019s response to the shocking night of violence across the city centre, the former broadcaster with RT\u00c9 and Radio Kerry decided on a career change and applied for a place in An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Friday she was one of 194 newly attested garda\u00ed to pass out at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I spent a couple of years abroad, I picked up a lot of in-field experience, and found myself in a lot of high-pressure environments. And when I came home I wanted to try and stay in that line of work,\u201d explained N\u00ed Riada, who worked in east Africa \u2013 Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda \u2013 as a freelance broadcaster for RT\u00c9 Radio 1, Nuacht TG4, Raidi\u00f3 na Gaeltachta, Newstalk and Radio Kerry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was abroad, the riots happened in November 2023 in Dublin. And when I was considering my options for coming home, it was those riots that inspired me to join the guards. For some people, maybe that would send them running in the opposite direction. But for me it was an eye-opener; I wanted to be involved, to get stuck in that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something about the Garda response … the regular members on regular units picked up their armour and just went up to Dublin. You had your public order units who were front and centre, but there was regular guards as well. For me, I could see myself jumping into a car and hitting the road for Dublin no matter where I was stationed in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GardaGarda Amy N\u00ed Riada during graduation at Garda College, Templemore, on Friday. Photograph: Cillian Sherlock\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Her journalistic work across east Africa resulted in her having a lot of contact with \u201cthe most vulnerable in society\u201d and she believed a career in policing was \u201cthe perfect place\u201d to continue in that vein. From Castleisland, Co Kerry, she will now be stationed in Midleton Garda station, Co Cork.<\/p>\n

The class that passed out on Friday brings to about 800 the number of recruits to pass through the college this year, up about a third on last year. Another 225 recruits commence training on Monday, the biggest class to enter the college in a decade as post-pandemic Garda recruitment has finally taken off again.<\/p>\n

Another new garda to be attested on Friday was Kristina Courtney, who has also opted for a career in policing after working as a journalist. Indeed, she was a producer on RT\u00c9\u2019s Crimecall programme. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was a production co-ordinator, so I hired all the crew. I got the guys to look like the bad guys\u201d \u2013 in reconstructions of featured crimes \u2013 \u201cto make sure everything matched. And I assisted the guards when we were doing shoots,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got an insight into how An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na works and the backgrounds of cases \u2013 cold cases to serious crimes. And I loved every single bit of it and I was motivated to become a guard.\u201d <\/p>\n

She described herself now as being \u201cup for the challenge\u201d as she commences her policing career at Dundalk Garda station.<\/p>\n

\"GardaGarda Jeremiah Bourke, 51, the oldest-ever recruit to graduate from the Garda College. Photograph: Cillian Sherlock\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Also among the passing out class was the oldest ever Garda graduate, Jeremiah Bourke. Aged 51 years, he said in the back of his mind he always wanted to be a Garda member and when the maximum age for recruits was increased last year from 35 to 50 years, he applied and was successful. <\/p>\n

From Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary, the married father has worked in retail and security and will now be posted to Kilkenny Garda station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amy N\u00ed Riada was working as a freelance journalist based in east Africa when the Dublin riots of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,46333,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-140590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-dublin-riots","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}