Leinster House will play host to a group of very special VIP guests from Co Tipperary later today, with nine Little Blue Heroes arriving for a tour.
One of those is six-year-old Honorary Garda Joey Moss, who has been part of the Little Blue Heroes Foundation for the last three years.
Little Blue Heroes was set up in 2017 to support families of children with serious illnesses, both practically and financially, as well as empowering children through positive community engagement.
The charity is voluntarily led by serving garda members, retired garda members and others in the community.
Honorary Garda Joey will travel to Dublin with his mother Dervla Anderson.
He was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and had undergone two surgeries before he was three years old.
Shortly before his third birthday, Joey was due to undergo another procedure, however a complication meant it did not go ahead.
"We went in for his final stage of surgery, but unfortunately they realised that Joey had pulmonary hypertension, so they were unable to go ahead with the last stage of surgery and it was a bit upsetting because we had hoped to have his third birthday party a few weeks later," Dervla explained.
As he could not celebrate his birthday properly that year, Dervla reached out to local gardaí in Clonmel to see if they could send a patrol car to their house to surprise him as he was "obsessed with the emergency services".
She said they obliged with a "show" for Joey, which included a number of emergency vehicles, and then went one better by putting him forward to become a Little Blue Hero.
"He was actually presented with his own special garda car, and for his fourth birthday they came again and repeated what they had done the previous year, but this time the Little Blue Heroes came with the motorbike. So, they have absolutely been phenomenal to us as a family and Joey especially", she added.
Joey takes his role as an honorary garda very seriously.
"I have to help people, and I have to show respect. I have to wear my uniform and I'm happy that I have to wear my uniform and the reason I became a garda is because of my open-heart surgery and I was so surprised when they came for my birthday," he said.
He said that being an Honorary Garda is "cool" and that he really enjoys wearing his uniform and going out on the beat.
When asked if being garda was something he'd like to do when he’s older, Joey said: "That was my dream."
Today’s event at Leinster House was arranged by Clonmel Fine Gael TD Michael Murphy and will see the honorary gardaí from South Tipperary greeted by Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy and Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Garda Fiona Gleeson, from Clonmel Garda Station Community Policing Unit, said there was a lot of organising involved in bringing the children out for such events as each child has a different illness.
She added that gardaí wanted as many children as possible to be able to attend, but some are not able to for various reasons.
Despite this, she said it was great to see the children so happy.
"It’s empowering for us and them, and builds good relationships," she said.
