Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party, I want to express my sincerest condolences to Detective Garda Horkan's father, all his family and his very wide circle of friends. His loss to his grieving family is simply incalculable. We send our deepest sympathies on the tragic loss of one of their own to the people of Charlestown in Mayo and Detective Garda Horkan's friends in the GAA.

We especially extend our sympathies to Detective Garda Horkan's colleagues in An Garda Síochána. When one member falls in the line of duty, it is felt by the entire force. This was apparent in the solemn and dignified way in which members of the force gathered from Donegal to Drogheda and beyond to pay their respects in their thousands on Sunday.

It was not only gardaí who lined up to pay personal tributes. People from all walks of life mourn Colm because of who he was, how he conducted himself and what he represented. From the tributes that were paid to him, he seemed to exemplify and embody everything that is good about An Garda Síochána and that a member should be. He was an integral part of his community and the first to put up his hand when something needed to be done. He had a civic spirit and pride in his place. He was decent and always prepared to put other first.

As the Minister and others have said, it is particularly poignant that Colm came through the same class as the late Adrian Donohoe, a brave member of An Garda Síochána who was cold-bloodedly killed in my constituency, outside Lordship credit union in 2013. It is also right that we remember the sacrifice made by Garda Fitzgerald and Garda Fogarty in 1998 and 1999, respectively. The two men were also classmates of the late Detective Garda Colm Horkan.

Detective Garda Horkan will live on in the memory of every serving member of An Garda Síochána, and in all of our memories.

In that sense, as the anthem of his beloved Liverpool FC proclaims, he will never walk alone.

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