Tipperary garda shares tragic part of job nothing prepares you for in 2 Johnnies chat

Garda Cian O'Sullivan from Tipperary and Garda Sinéad Roche from Cork featured in the latest episode of The 2 Johnnies Podcast with Garda O'Sullivan revealed the one part of the job training can't prepare you for.

The 2 Johnnies chatted with the two gardaí on the ins and outs of the career as applications for the job are now open.

Garda Roche starts off by describing why she decided to become a garda: "in my previous job I was an SNA so it was the same thing everyday and so the guards appealed to me because I knew it was going to be something different everyday and so far so good I'm enjoying it".

"You arrive and you don't know what to expect....it is exciting," Garda Roche added.

They chat about the work schedule that involves having four days on and four days off with 12 hour work days, the training in Templemore, combat training, driving training and the situations you could find yourself in as a Guard in Ireland.

Garda Cian O'Sullivan talks combat training, "so it starts off with self-defence and then we call it red man...a red man in a suit to help you learn the different methods of combat". 

"You're never on your own your always with colleagues," Garda Roche explains when asked are you every scared while on the job.

"There's all different walks of life joining the Guards, it is attractive job, It doesn't matter what size you are, there could be a body builder not able to do much so," Garda Cian O' Sullivan explained when the question of size was brought up.

The 2 Johnnies asked what the best and worst part of the job is:

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"The best bit is making someone else's life better...it could be something as small as bringing someone from there to here and it could be just brightening someone else's day," Garda O' Sullivan said.

"You can prepare for a lot of stuff but...I've been at fatal road traffic collisions and no matter what anyone tells you, nothing is going to prepare you for that really," O' Sullivan added.

The Gardaí went into the driving training involving five levels of training, with Garda O'Sullivan saying "it is very tough and mentally challenging."

The full episode can be listened to on Spotify and all major podcast platforms.

If you're interested in following in the footsteps of Cian and Sinéad, the latest Garda recruitment competition is open and you have until 3pm on Thursday 27 February, 2025 to apply.