Former Fair City actor turns to real-life drama in joining An Garda Síochána

Sean Ryan

A former Fair City actor is fronting a new promotional video for An Garda Síochána and looks set to experience real-life drama on the beat.

Actor Simon O’Droscoll, who played Paul and Nicola’s son Oisin in Fair City, as well as Veronica Guerin’s son Cathal in the Veronica Guerin movie, has left acting to become a Garda.

The Dubliner, who completed a degree in Commercial music at the BIMM Music Institute and specialised in songwriting, visited most secondary schools in the country to talk about mental health and music.

He says that while he went on to act in films, including the Roddy Doyle-made Oscar-nominated short film New Boy, he joined the Gardaí because he likes "keeping physically fit and mentally sharp," and enjoys "dealing with different situations each day".

He also has family who served with An Garda Síochána, which also helped influence his decision to join the force.

O'Driscoll, who is in his 30s and on stage three of his training, will be attested later this year in Templemore.

He said he completed his stage two training at Kevin Street Garda Station in Dublin, and worked with a "great unit" there.

One thing that he says he remembers in particular is one night where it was "non-stop," going "from call to call".

"It was from 7pm to 7am the next day, and I just remember, you know, you're going into these situations where you really have to trust the unit that you’re with."

He added, "The camaraderie that you have is very much unlike any other job," and that you create a "bond" with your unit.

"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 out on stage two," O'Driscoll said.