Trouble in paradise for the Garda's Seychelles patrol; Ex-officers flocked to the tropics but their idyll has gone sour.(News)

Byline: Cormac McQuinn

ON the surface, it's a retirement dream for gardai weary of a one-sided battle against crime on the drug-ridden streets of Ireland - a job in the police force on sun-soaked Indian Ocean islands, with a lucrative salary and low crime rate.

A score of ex-gardai and justice experts thought so, too, and jumped at the chance, lured by fantasies of cocktails on the veranda, sunset-silhouetted coconut palms and hula-skirted beauties.

But the coconut milk has well and truly soured - for everyone concerned.

The Irish, brought in by the Seychelles government to reform the justice system, now appear to be suffering a backlash in the tiny archipelago nation off East Africa.

Already, the police commissioner and his deputy have resigned, reportedly due to 'interfering' ex-gardai making their jobs 'untenable'.

The interrogation of a Seychellois sports star by one of the Irish consultants has raised more questions about their presence.

Add to that growing resentment among rank-and-file members of the Seychellois police over the huge difference in pay between them and their Irish colleagues and it adds up to long hours and stress for the retired gardai, who may have thought they'd left all that behind …