Ballymoe native and former Assistant Commissioner An Garda Síochána Martin Donnellan passes away

The death has occurred of Ballymoe native and former Assistant Commissioner, An Garda Síochána Martin Donnellan.

Mr Donnellan, who had resided in Donnybrook, Dublin, passed away on Friday surrounded by his family after a long illness bravely borne.

Beloved husband of Joan and adored father of Ken, Patrick and Joanne. He was predeceased by his parents, Mattie and Nora and grandson Mark.

Martin will be deeply missed by his devoted wife and children, treasured grandchildren, sister, Anne, brothers, Jim, Pat and John, daughters-in-law Farrah and Trish, son-in-law, David, brothers in law, sisters in law, nieces, nephews, extended family, large circle of friends, neighbours and former colleagues in An Garda Síochána.

Reposing at Rom Massey & Sons Funeral Home, 6 Cranford Centre, Stillorgan Road, Dublin 4, D04 X446 (opposite UCD Flyover), on Sunday afternoon, October 20th, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m..

Funeral Mass on Monday, October 21st, at 11 a.m., at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook, D04 HW82, followed by burial at Kilmashogue Cemetery, Edmondstown Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.

The Ballymoe man was born on June 7th, 1948. He had a distinguished career in An Garda Siochana and was awarded a Scott Medal in recognition of his actions on December 30th, 1980 after four heavily armed men robbed a bank at Stillorgan Shopping Centre in Dublin escaping to a van, driven by a fifth man, with £102,000.

He and his colleague, Kieran Brennan, were awarded the Scott Medal at Templemore in 1982, sharing the ceremony with the widows of three Gardaí killed in action - John Morley, and Henry Burns from Castlerea Garda Station and Seamus Quaid.

On his retirement he said it was “stressful looking at those families. I remember in particular Henry Burns' kids were so small. It really brought it home to me. It was lovely to be honoured, but it was even better to be in the good health to receive it. It is a very thin line between life and death, and that's the one thing about the gardaí, there is no group in the country that has paid as big a price."

Later while later working as a detective superintendent he led the investigation into the murder of 17-year-old Raonaid Murray in Glenageary and worked on the case of Annie McCarrick who disappeared without trace in 1993. He aided the investigation into the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 in Beirut.

The country’s longest serving detective, in 2008 he lost his High Court case aimed at overturning the compulsory retirement age of 60 for assistant commissioners in the Garda Síochána. At the time had had claimed the law requiring him to retire at 60 was ageist, irrational and contrary to changes in life expectancy. He retired in the summer of 2008.