Ex-garda: ‘They no longer have a hold over me. Today, I’m free’
A former garda, who was threatened with dismissal from the force after becoming pregnant with a fellow garda recruit in the 1980s, attempted to take her own life five times following her ordeal. Majella Moynihan, who was born in Kanturk, Co Cork, spent time in St John of God’s psychiatric hospital after placing the child she had with another young garda up for adoption in 1984.
Ms Moynihan, who left the force in 1998 on a half-pension, believes she might not have been subjected to such a rigorous investigation by An Garda Síochána if she had not been in a vulnerable position at the time.
“They knew where I had come from and that I hadn’t any support,” said Ms Moynihan. “I often wonder if I had come from a strong family would they have done this. I don’t think so.
"From the first time I told the authorities, it was adoption, adoption, adoption. I often wonder if I had been supported by [the authorities], would I have kept my baby because it is a decision I regret to this day.”
Breaking down in tears on RTÉ radio’s Today With Sean O’Rourke programme, Ms Moynihan revealed that she attempted to take her own life five times in the wake of her treatment by the force:
“They thought they would break me, they didn’t. I am a very strong woman and I am so grateful for my strength but I have worked so hard. I have done counselling for years and years. They no longer have a hold over me. Today, I’m free.”
Asked if she would consider seeking compensation, Ms Moynihan said:
I’ve told my story after 35 years. It’s difficult to consider compensation at this stage. Would I be happy with compensation? Yes.
As an 18-month-old baby, Ms Moynihan was placed in an industrial school in Mallow, Co Cork, along with her four older sisters after their mother was killed in a road traffic accident. She remained in care until she turned 18. While the first 11 years in Mallow were “wonderful”, largely due to the kindness of one nun in particular, she said she was later subjected to regular beatings.
“My interest in joining the gardaí was definitely for justice because I felt the injustices of life, myself, personally, and I had seen a lot of injustices.
“This other nun came and the violence started then. I was beaten quite regularly by her. I often say I was the ‘red rag to the bull’ because when she passed me, she hit me. She did tremendous injuries to the back of my head.
“One evening I took corn flakes and I was beaten black and blue by her. It was an extremely tough time in my life, very, very tough. I remember it being said, ‘You are very lucky you got an education’; I wouldn’t consider myself lucky. Why I did my Leaving Cert was [because] I knew if I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t have got on.”
While beginning as a trainee garda in Templemore was “like heaven”, Ms Moynihan and her colleagues were never cautioned not to have sexual relations.
She said: “We were never told that to do so would bring the force into disrepute. I think they looked down on the fact that we were having relationships down there. It was quite prevalent when I got my file. We weren’t the only couple, we definitely weren’t the only couple.”
She said she did not turn to the Garda Representative Association for assistance after learning she was pregnant because she did not know the group existed. She also wasn’t approached by welfare officers in Store Street Garda Station, where she had begun working on September, 30, 1983.
“I was very much alone in that period of darkness. Walking out on the beat, and every day I put on my uniform, I thought of my unborn child and what if I was assaulted and yet I couldn’t tell my story to anybody. I was lost.
“I was living out of my body at that stage because it was all hush hush. I knew that I was being spoken about and I knew that when I went downstairs it was ‘Shh, Majella is here’.
I was never at one stage within that period of time asked ‘How are you Majella, how are you coping, can we do anything?’
She went on to recount how she stayed with one of her four sisters for a period of time when pregnant and then went to Galway to have her baby.
“They wouldn’t give me the epidural and I was in absolute horrific pain. I ripped myself and I just felt in there that I was nothing to them. When David was born, they just took him. I felt at that particular time that I was nothing and in Galway hospital, they treated me like I was a nothing.”
When she returned to duty after she had given birth, Ms Moynihan said she was also subjected to sexual harassment: “I feel that they portrayed me as an easy woman. They felt that they could do and say what they liked to me, and they did.”
At one point, a senior officer told her ‘if you had an abortion, you wouldn’t have brought discredit on the force’, said Ms Moynihan.
“I was appalled. I went to Templemore and took an oath to protect life and property. Here I was being told by an officer within the Garda force that if I had gone to England and had an abortion, I would not have brought discredit on the force. Double standards.”
She said she experienced horrific abuse during the disciplinary hearing for the father of her child: “There were six men in the room. The only other woman was a stenographer. It felt like an eternity.”
She felt as if she were “the guinea pig” and that there was an attitude that she would serve as an example — “we’ll show other women that this is what will be done to you”.
