Longford Lives: Prioritising the life lessons to be learned from death

Upon completing his Leaving Cert in St Mel's College Longford in 1986 Ciaran Prior had no map for his future.
“I spent a couple of years working,” he told the Leader, “I worked for a car hire company, I was in the civil service for a year as well. Then I hopped into the Guards and did 32 years with them.”
There's a haphazard incongruity about the description 'hopping into the Guards' for a man who would spend the final decade and half of his law enforcement career fixating on details.

At that time, the late 1980s, a career in uniform was attractive to Ciaran: “There was such variety to it, the outdoor life, rather than sitting in an office. That certainly appealed to me, and the wide rage of the job.
“I started in Dublin, I did eight years there before moving to Castlerea in County Roscommon. I spent the last 15 years as a crime scene investigator, which was very diverse.”

The pros of life as a Garda were counterpointed by what Ciaran described as “an intense fear of death” in his childhood. When he took up the post as a Garda crime scene investigator, his job exposed him to the very thing he feared most as a child.
The 36 years between finishing secondary school and retiring from An Garda Síochána added layers to a life, one that presented an intriguing story.
Immediately after retirement he got to explore that story by presenting a TEDx talk, 'Life Lessons Dealing With Death' where he unfolded aspects of his unique life experience: “I did the TEDx Talk on the night I left the Guards,” the Lanesboro native said.

The presentation of the TEDx Talk was a more natural progression than some may think: “From the day you go into the Guards you're speaking in public, because you're getting called to every type of a situation.
“You're the one trying to control things, trying to take command, trying to sort things out. You're speaking in public at a high level. Sometimes it's a life and death situation.”
A TEDx Talk is a showcase for speakers presenting well-formed ideas in under 18 minutes. To condense three decades of knowledge into a short format is quite a skill. Ciaran's presentation was well received.
“A publisher from a book company saw the talk and reckoned it would expand out into an interesting book, and made an offer straight away,” he recalls.

“I took a step back and thought about it. I got myself a literary agent, Faith O'Grady, and the next thing I was talking to Penguin, Hachette and Bonnier, Blackwater, a whole lot of publishers.
“They started a bit of a bidding process. There was big demand, because of the interest and fascination for crime scene investigation. There's an insatiable appetite for it,” he tells.

From the seed of the online talk the book, Traces of Truth-A CSI Investigates Life and Death, grew. It recounts some of the more significant instances of grief, tragedy and sorrow Ciaran encountered throughout his crime scene investigation career.
“It's more than just a police procedural. There's reflection on death I have drawn from experiences in my youth. I was called after my Uncle Ciaran who died tragically in a shooting accident when he was 14.
“He was my mother's brother. As a child I felt that death had a shadow over me. The strange thing was that I went on to work in a job that exposed me to death on a huge scale.”
Society's fascination with the details of crime is not a modern affliction, however Ciaran says television portrayals of CSI have ramped up that interest.

This book has provided an opportunity to lay out a philosophy informed by years of Garda work: “There are some relevant snapshots from my earlier frontline policing, it offers an inside glimpse into how this strange world shaped my view of life and living.
“The book provides an insight into the hard-earned lessons I learned, both professionally and personally, along the way.
“I want to show how these experiences ultimately led to a transformation in my understanding of the true nature of death.”
Traces of Truth is a revealing memoir, in which Ciaran details his work on some of Ireland’s most shocking murders.
It gives the reader behind-the-scenes access to real crime scenes and reveals the role of forensics in modern day policing, as well as the impact that constant frontline encounters with death had on the author's health.
That insight is deeply personal: “Traces of Truth centres on the character, instinct and judgement required to see justice done, and is a reflection on life and death.

“It traces the effect that a career spent dealing with mortality will leave on perception and psyche.”
The personal nature of the book is an aspect of the work that particularly pleases Ciaran: “There's a reflective process going on in the book. What death means and what it means for all of us to have this thing take over.

“In the background we all know we're going to reach that point.
“It's very different when you're looking at death every day, the way I was. It really brings it to the forefront of your mind. It teaches you how to live when you realise that the life we live is so fragile.”
Although the book has yet to go on sale Ciaran says the reaction from anyone who has read it has been very positive: “When my agent read it she was completely blown away.

“One of the people in the publishers who saw it asked me who the ghostwriter was, I said, nobody. I've written it myself. I suppose I have to thank Jim Waldron's English class at Mel's for that,” he laughs.

In the two years since Ciaran left the world of CSI he has secured a new career as a Super Generation Motivational Speaker which affords him the chance to use the 32 years of experience to educate others: “It's something I love. I used to go to schools giving talks to the youngsters about the crime scene investigation end of it. I really got a kick out of that.
“When I was invited to do the TEDx talk with reference to my crime scene days and the particular connection with death I had as a child, all that came together. That double dynamic also comes to play in the book.”

For Ciaran taking the leap to present the online talk felt like an opportunity that arrived at the correct time : “I was setting off on a new career after leaving the Guards. I figured going around to schools, businesses and colleges to give people the benefit of my life experience really appealed to me.

“Those lessons are about resilience, leadership, well-being, that sort of thing. It's crazy how my life has taken off from that decision two years ago to leave the Guards.”
Ciaran Prior's Traces of Truth-A CSI Investigates Life and Death goes on sale on September 19.