{"id":294223,"date":"2026-02-12T13:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/294223\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:06:07","slug":"army-chaplain-who-forgave-attacker-awarded-service-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/294223\/","title":{"rendered":"Army chaplain who forgave attacker awarded service medal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An army chaplain who was stabbed at Renmore Barracks in Galway in 2024 has been awarded a medal for distinguished service, along with three other soldiers who came to his aid during the incident.<\/p>\n<p>Fr Paul Murphy sustained a number of stab wounds after he was approached by an assailant near the entrance to the barracks on 15 August 2024.<\/p>\n<p>He made a full recovery and returned to duty in the months afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>A teenage boy was given a ten year sentence last year, after pleading guilty to the attempted murder of Fr Murphy at D\u00fan U\u00ed Mhaoil\u00edosa, in Galway.<\/p>\n<p>Fr Murphy told the boy he forgave him at the sentencing hearing and said he hoped he would be able to make a positive contribution to society on his release from prison.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Six people stand in a line at an event\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0023e230-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nMinister for Justice Helen McEntee is pictured alongside Fr Paul Murphy, Pte Dylan Geraghty, Pte Ciara Shanahan and Cpl Daniel Padden and Lt Gen Rossa Mulcahy at the ceremony<\/p>\n<p>He was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal, with merit, for personifying the core values of the Defence Forces during and after the incident.<\/p>\n<p>Private Ciara Shanahan, Corporal Daniel Padden and Private Dylan Geraghty were also recognised for their actions on the night of the attack.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A photograph of a female soldier pictured with a smiling man and woman\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0023e234-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nPte Ciara Shanahan pictured with her parents Liam and Deborah<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a soldier is pictured alongside a group of people posing for a photograph\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0023e235-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nCpl Daniel Padden is seen with family members and Minister Helen McEntee<\/p>\n<p>Pte Shanahan was awarded the distinguished service medal with merit for her actions.<\/p>\n<p>She had been on guard duty at time, immediately alerted the Barrack Guard and attempted the deter the attack while being unarmed.<\/p>\n<p>The Defence Forces said Guard Commander Cpl Padden and Barrack Guard member Pte Geraghty &#8220;responded rapidly&#8221; by issuing verbal warnings and warning shots.<\/p>\n<p>Pte Geraghty, who tackled the attacker, was awarded the distinguished service medal, with honour.<\/p>\n<p>Cpl Padden, who maintained a defensive position while being prepared to escalate force if necessary, was given a distinguished service medal with distinction.<\/p>\n<p>Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy said: &#8220;I am immensely proud of these soldiers. Their conduct brings great pride to their unit, An Ch\u00e9ad Chathl\u00e1n Coisithe, and to the Defence Forces as a whole and it reinforces the trust placed in us by the people we serve.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The army chaplain said he was grateful to receive the award and that he was particularly happy his three colleagues were being acknowledged, for the courage and bravery they showed.<\/p>\n<p alt=\"Army chaplain who was stabbed outside barracks to be awarded medal\" data-embed=\"comcast-player\" data-guid=\"epic-mpx-manual-30711\" data-id=\"k09gvCHIsSZz\">\n<p>Additional reporting PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An army chaplain who was stabbed at Renmore Barracks in Galway in 2024 has been awarded a medal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-294223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294223","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=294223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}