Jack Marrinan was a key moderniser 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 gardaí 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 gardaí 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.
