Changing of the Guard: Jack Marrinan’s battle to modernise An Garda Siochana

Jack Marrinan was a key modernizer of policing in Ireland. He was elected to the national executive of the Representative Body for Guards (RBG), the precursor to the Garda Representative Association (GRA). When younger gardai were excluded from a pay award in 1961, the RBG instructed its members to go slow in implementing traffic regulations in Dublin. A meeting of protesting gardai at the Macushla ballroom in Dublin was proscribed. About 160 guards who attended were served with disciplinary notices charging them with discreditable conduct. Eleven men, including Marrinan, were dismissed by the commissioner. Changing of the Guard tells the story of Marrinan as a transformational figure in the force at a time of great social and economic change. Under his leadership, the GRA evolved into a skilful and powerful negotiating body. Nearly all of the advantages that gardai enjoy today in their service are built on the foundations he established.