Remarkable policing stories from Wicklow retold in new podcast
The Wicklow PeopleSome of Wicklow’s most extraordinary policing stories are set to hit the airwaves in a new podcast exploring more than 200 years of Irish policing.
The Póilíní Podcast, produced by Tinpot Productions in partnership with Acast, is presented by journalist and author Helen Moorhouse and former garda Dr John Reynolds.
Dr Reynolds spent more than 40 years serving with An Garda Síochána, including time in a surveillance unit targeting notorious Irish crime boss Martin Cahill, also known as ‘The General’.
During his career, he was involved in many Wicklow cases, including the investigation into the theft of valuable artwork from Russborough House.
On May 21, 1986, Cahill masterminded the raid on the Wicklow estate, with 18 paintings worth up to £30 million stolen. Dr Reynolds recalls a crucial tip.
“We were tipped off that there was going to be an attempt to sell the paintings to an international art dealer, but it was really an undercover Interpol agent, so we arranged a meeting near the Wicklow Mountains.”
He said gardaí wanted to catch those involved “red-handed”, but technical problems meant the operation had to be abandoned.
Although the operation failed, gardaí at the scene came across the body of a person who had been missing for some time.
“That’s just the unpredictable nature of policing.”
Twelve years earlier English heiress Rose Dugdale and an IRA gang had stolen 19 paintings from Russborough House. They were later recovered in a cottage in Glandore, Co Cork.
Dr Reynolds remembers a chance encounter with Ms Dugdale at the National Gallery in 1982.
“I got a summer job keeping an eye on the paintings, but on my first day the first person I noticed was a person who looked quite familiar,” said Dr Reynolds.
“It was Rose Dugdale, visiting the paintings on the day she was released from prison. She was there for a few hours just staring at the paintings.”
One episode of the new podcast will tell the story of the murder of Garda Patrick O’Halloran, who was the third garda to be murdered since the foundation of the force in 1922.
Dr Reynolds explained how the early years of the force were particularly dangerous.
“The anti-Treaty IRA used to attack gardaí and try to burn them out of their barracks,” he said.
“Garda O’Halloran and three colleagues took on an attack on Baltinglass Garda Station from 50 men in 1923. He was an incredibly brave man.”
One year later, the Civil War was over, but two men arrived at a bank in Baltinglass and asked to speak to the manager.
Dr Rose Dugdale, who died aged 82 in 2024.
According to Dr Reynolds, as soon as the manager opened the door, the men produced a gun and told him they were robbing the bank on behalf of the IRA.
The bank manager pulled a gun and was shot by the raiders. Officers from Baltinglass, including Gda O’Halloran responded.
He was an unarmed officer, but was handed a gun by a local shopkeeper. Despite this, Gda O’Halloran was shot dead by the assailants.
Three weeks later, three men were arrested and were later sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in the fatal robbery.
Gda O’Halloran is commemorated by a plaque at Baltinglass Garda Station.