WHEN MICHEÁL MARTIN, then minister for foreign affairs, travelled to Africa in 2009 on a secretive mission to launch efforts to release an abducted Irish aid worker, the plane was flown by a man he would go on to take a high stakes political gamble on 16 years later.

Long before he was chosen by Martin as Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate, and before his five-in-a-row glory as Dublin football manager, Jim Gavin was a military pilot.

In July 2009, Sharon Commins, an aid worker with Goal, was abducted along with Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawuki by an armed group in Sudan. She was eventually freed after negotiations. 

The Journal has learned that Gavin flew the government jet to Sudan carrying Martin, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, who hoped to push the local government to initiate negotiations for the release of the hostages.

He would later fly a group of Garda negotiators, Defence Forces personnel including Army Ranger Wing operators and diplomats to Darfur on the border of western Sudan. They successfully worked to release Commins and her colleague.

Gavin would later deploy on a peacekeeping mission to Chad and the Central African Republic where he spent six months working as the Chief of Military Aviation Operations as part of the UN-mandated MINURCAT peacekeeping mission prompted by atrocities and the refugee crisis in the region.

Jim Gavin trained pilots to fly the PC-9 while he was commanding officer of the Irish Air Corps school. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

‘Straight and hard’

Gavin rose through the ranks in the Air Corps and, according to some sources, had he not left he could have achieved the rank of General Officer Commanding. 

Even within Fianna Fáil, Gavin is not a well-known character. One Fianna Fáil councillor, when asked earlier this week about backing Gavin if he secured Fianna Fáil’s nomination ahead of her preferred candidate, Billy Kelleher, responded icily: “We don’t know very much about him, apart from seeing him on the sidelines at football games.”

The electorate, for the most part, know him best for his role in the GAA – but given his limited communication style they too may struggle to know the man.

The Journal has spoken to eight people who served alongside the Clondalkin man during his 20 years in the military. They portrayed a different Jim Gavin to his reputation as the cold and ruthless Dublin GAA manager. 

They described him as warm and personable – qualities he will urgently need to project to the Irish public when the all-important television debates take place in the upcoming election campaign.

Former colleagues described Gavin as popular with all ranks at the Baldonnel airfield, where he held several positions including squadron commander at the Air Corps training school, chief flying instructor, and air intelligence staff officer.

A non-commissioned military source said Gavin was “straight and hard as an instructor” and “very focused on maintaining high standards”.

Jim Gavin photographed recently at a Round Towers Clondalkin football game. Dan Clohessy / INPHO Dan Clohessy / INPHO / INPHO

At the time when Gavin was commanding officer of the Air Corps School, the Air Corps tragically lost two pilots, who died in a training flight on a PC-9.

That collision happened at Cornamona, Co Galway in October 2009. It killed two people on board, Captain Derek Furniss, 32, and 22-year-old Cadet David Jevens.

Military leadership

One senior military officer described Gavin as a “born winner”, while another said: “He’s the sort of fella technical things come easy to”. A senior security source described his leadership style as being about leading by example. A non-commissioned Air Corps source who served with him said he was “easy to work with”. 

Kevin Phipps, a former Air Corps pilot and now flying with an airline, echoed this praise for Gavin’s military leadership.

“Jim had an innate ability to deliver on projects and get things done. He was always approachable and had a very personable manner about him. He got the most out of people,” Phipps said.

Gavin left the Defence Forces in 2011 after 20 years – but the Irish Air Corps connections have continued.

At a ceremony presenting him with the freedom of Dublin city in the Mansion House in 2020, there was a large military contingent present including future Chief of Staff and now General based in Europe Seán Clancy, who himself was an Air Corps helicopter pilot. 

During his time as Dublin Manager there were also former Irish Air Corps colleagues in his backroom staff. 

Gavin’s Air Corps background opened the door to his next career as director of people and operations, and then chief operations officer at the Irish Aviation Authority.