Commissioner O'Sullivan's advice to new gardai: Smile!

"It's a renewed beginning for the Garda Siochana and it's also a new beginning for me," Ms O'Sullivan told 62 Garda Reserve members as she presided over their graduation ceremony in Templemore yesterday.

She encouraged them to ask questions, have courage in doing so and emphasised the importance of humanity within the police force.

"You have to learn also to wonder and to challenge and to be able to be empowered enough to ask questions in the right way for the right reasons," Ms O'Sullivan said.

"Sometimes courage isn't always spectacular, sometimes it's the smallest word like 'no'."

"It's about having the courage to put up your hand in any given situation and wonder 'why'. Why should something be done in a certain way just because that's the way it was always done," added the commissioner.

Yesterday, 21 women and 41 men graduated from the Garda Reserve, with the new graduates coming from countries like Poland and Lithuania.

Gabriela Gurdak (29), who lives in Wexford town, arrived in Ireland 10 years ago with no English and is now a member of the Garda Reserve.

"What was striking in the Commissioner's speech was that she's very into the public, the customers, the importance of having a smile for every single individual," Ms Gurdak said.

Yesterday Ms O'Sullivan referred to an article by Irish Independent journalist Martina Devlin when explaining about the importance of human interaction within the police force.

Ms Devlin wrote about how she had been stopped at a check-point by a female member of the gardai and received a smile from her during their exchange.

The journalist then said she saw a male member of the force at the same check-point who was not engaging with the public in the same manner.

"She noticed that there was no human interaction, there was no eye contact and there was no smiling.

"A smile might seem like a very small thing but it's a very meaningful thing," Ms O'Sullivan told the graduates.

Aside from the importance of humanity, which the new Commissioner demonstrated in her warm interaction with the graduates and their children, she reiterated the need for courage.

"It's having the courage to speak up and to query and question why, but not in a destructive way but in a very constructive way," Ms O'Sullivan said.

"We have to make sure that the little things, that sometimes may not be right, are very much addressed and I'm asking for all of your support in doing that," added the Commissioner.