'Your adrenaline is up' - Meet the new garda recruit you've seen before in iconic Irish film

From child actor to garda trainee, Dublin native Simon O’Driscoll’s career path has been anything but ordinary. 

It was 2003 when he landed his first role, playing Cathal in major motion picture Veronica Guerin, where he starred alongside Cate Blanchett and Colin Farrell. 

This was just the beginning of quite an interesting journey as Simon then went on to play Oisin, Paul and Nicola’s son, in Fair City for roughly six years. 

Following on from this incredible role, the garda trainee also starred in some short films, including the Oscar-nominated New Boy; a short story written by iconic Irish author Roddy Doyle. 

Speaking in a promotional video for An Garda Síochána, the Dubliner said as he grew up, he “fell in love more with music than I did with acting.” 

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Pursuing his dream, Simon went on to study at BIMM Music Insititute, where he completed a degree in commercial modern music, specialising in songwriting. 

The former child actor would write, produce, record and release music, touring “pretty much every secondary school in the country,” where he gave talks on mental health, cyber bullying, online safety and social media. Wanting to keep students engaged, he coincided these lectures with music and performances which was “a lot of fun" for the multifaceted man. 

Despite having a passion for performance, Simon decided to join An Garda Síochána as he wanted a job “that had a little bit more meaning.” 

Speaking in the social media video, he said, “Personally, I wanted a job that required me to be physically fit and kind of mentally sharp. You know, I suppose, fitness and health would be a big part of my lifestyle anyway. 

“I had family in the job so I saw how much they loved it and their time in it and just having something on a day to day that's going to be different. Going into situations that are potentially dangerous and, you know, your adrenaline is up but you know you're trained for these scenarios and scenarios like that do excite me. That's primarily what I wanted to join.”

Simon completed his stage two training at the very busy Kevin Street Garda Station in Dublin which he “loved.” 

Experiencing what life will be like as a fully-fledged member of An Garda Síochána, he noted one particular night where it was “non-stop” from 7pm to 7am. 

The former musician said going into situations like this, it is important to trust the unit you are with, saying, “One thing is, I know family had described this to me before with the guards, is the camaraderie that you have is very much unlike any other job that you'll probably walk into. The kind of bond that you're going to make with your unit there, you know, you're working with them for long hours in very high stress scenarios and you have to make sure that you have each other's back and I could really see how prevalent that was when I was in stage two.” 

It is a massive week for Simon and his classmates as this Friday, May 1, they will be officially attested and sworn in as full members of An Garda Síochána. 

Best of luck!