Air Corps recommends alcohol after engine failure

On Friday an Air Corps aircraft on a training flight lost power in its single engine.

The crew of one teacher and a trainee successfully glided the plane back the 30 kilometres to Baldonnel.

In a comment to the media after the event and the lucky escape for the two personnel on board an Air Corps spokesperson said that the pilots were unharmed aside from being "slightly shaken'.

The spokesperson continued: "They'll be having a stiff drink tonight."

Is it appropriate for a spokesperson for the Defence Forces to recommend, indeed, glorify alcohol in such a manner?

Has no media outlet brought attention to this completely inappropriate comment?

Life is a time of constant change

'Thinking Anew' in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

Last week a young man was sentenced to 20 years in prison. As the judge announced the sentence the convicted man turned to his family and said: “Five World Cups and I’ll be out.” When I read that I immediately ‘fast forwarded’ 20 years to wonder about the 40-something year-old man who will finally emerge from prison.

 

More than half of prisoners released from Irish jails reoffend within three years and almost 80 per cent of young people who are locked up under the age of 21 reoffend within three years. But the good news is that reoffending rates are falling, not dramatically but falling nonetheless. 

While our prisons are places of punishment, they must also afford people the possibility of rehabilitation.

It is risky to generalise, and it may not be fair to ask the question –  do we improve or disimprove with age? Probably an impossible question to answer. My life-experience and my DNA makeup usually make me suspicious of ‘spectacular conversions’. 

Nevertheless, conversion is an intrinsic aspect of the Christian story.

In tomorrow’s Gospel, St Mark (9: 2 - 10) tells the story of the transfiguration. In the presence of his closest companions, Peter, James and John, Jesus is transfigured beyond recognition. And these men are so confused by it all that they have no idea what to do. Peter blurts out some nonsense about building three tents. But the fact of the matter is that: “He did not know what to say; they were so frightened.”  

Later, as they came down from the mountain Jesus warns them not to speak about this “until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” And that even caused more confusion as they discussed among themselves what rising from the dead might mean.

In my job as a hospital chaplain I am constantly confronted with the mystery of life and death. What most of all strikes me is our fragility. The why of life, the why of our own lived experience and then the ultimate question, the why of death.

But on our life’s journey ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ – as Hamlet  puts it – direct us along different roads. Why do some people choose good and others decide on another route? How free are we to take the road we travel? It’s part of the Christian mission-statement to say that we are saved by the grace of God. And grace is a freely bestowed gift. Maybe it makes sense to say that we have all been invited by God and it’s our decision to accept or reject the invitation.

Of course we are all influenced by our surroundings, the people we meet, the time and place of our birth and so on. Surely freedom is always limited.

Just look at those closest to Jesus. Observe  how they were so incapable of understanding what it means to be changed. If they had such difficulty with the idea of change, life, death and resurrection, how can it be any other way for us?

Life is  one long mystery.  But we believe. At times it can be almost impossible to understand but as Christians we say yes to God, we say yes to resurrection and this life of ours is a journey, a process, it’s a time of transfiguration, a time of constant change that reaches its fulfilment in the full and complete presence of God.

Life surely is all about growing, learning, developing, discovering new ways of doing things. It also involves us listening, listening to the now but also learning from the wisdom of the past. No one person, no one generation knows it all. I much prefer to sit down and listen to the person who questions and queries, the person who admits to stumbling and failing but always gets back up again and walks with hope. Those who claim to know it all always disappoint. 

The confusion of the disciples on that mountain is surely an endearing quality. It’s heartening to know that these men not only were confused but also got it all so wrong. They simply had no idea with the enormity with which they were dealing. Anything to do with God is almost completely beyond our grasp.

My prayer for the young man who said he is going to miss five World Cups is that he and all of us will realise on this journey of ours there’s so much  to do en route. And all the good we do will be transformed into a reality beyond our understanding in the full presence of God in the time of resurrection.

German bishop calls for root and branch changes

Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops' conference, who is the bishop of Limburg, said on German television last evening after a meeting of the bishops' conference, it was not enough for the German Catholic Church to say sorry in a press release, or to issue a statement or hold a conference but what was needed to restore trust was the day-in-day-out action to make changes in the church and to involve the laity.

Theologian Maria Mesrian, speaking for Reforminitiative - 2.0, said that the bishop's conference did not go far enough and went on to say that the church has to be far more open and transparent. She said what had happened in the Archdiocese of Cologne and the subsequent church investigation was proof for the need of  a more open and all-inclusive church.

Couldn't we all give chapter and verse how dysfunctional the church is, whether it be in Germany or Ireland.

Couldn't we all give examples of how matters could be so improved if the advice, faith and wisdom of lay people, women and men, were called upon.

The system, as it is, is shocking. And  Georg Bätzing is saying as much when he refers to the German Catholic Church.

Most likely it is worse in Ireland.

One example: it cannot make sense when dealing with HR issues among priests it is an all-male clerical group that makes recommendations and subsequent decisions.

It is absurd and many priests have seen such absurdity first-hand.

It is a most unhealthy system.

Diplomat says Johsnon is a liar and has no rules

From yesterday's Guardian

Boris Johnson is “an unrepentant and inveterate liar” who feels he is not subject to the same rules as others, Sylvie Bermann, the former French ambassador to the UK during the Brexit vote, says in a new book.

She also claims some Brexiteers are consumed with hatred for Germany and gripped by a myth that they liberated Europe on their own, describing Brexit as a triumph of emotion over reason, won by a campaign full of lies in which negative attitudes to migration were exploited by figures such as Johnson and Michael Gove.

Bermann, who served as the French ambassador to the UK from 2014 to 2017 and has been one of the most senior diplomats in the French diplomatic service, including as ambassador to China and to Russia, assesses the British handling of the Covid pandemic as among the worst in the world alongside that of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. She predicts Johnson will seek to use Covid to mask the true economic cost of Brexit on the UK economy.

Johnson, she says, comes from an Eton and Oxford University class that believes they are entitled to use language to provoke. Describing him as intelligent and charming, she says he uses “lies to embellish reality, as a game and as instrument of power. The ends justify the means. He has no rules.”

More lovely words about the late Jim Harris

Surely this is worth publishing.

Dear Michael,

Yesterday's blog mentioned the late Jim Harris. He really was a larger than life individual. He was a most talented man who repaired and mended all variety of bicycles and was also an excellent hair dresser who acted as barber for many students in Tallaght. 

A robust front row rugby player deeply devoted to his sister who became an invalid due to a fall in Nigeria.

Kindest regards,

Edward

Davy Fitzgerald's toughest team take on Carantouhill

RTE deserves great praise for Monday evening's  final episode of 'Davy's Toughest Team'.

Legendary Davy Fitzgerald, current manager of the Wexford senior hurling team, had planned to take a group of young men to the base camp of Mount Everest but the pandemic put paid to that and the team instead climbed Ireland's highest mountain, Carantouhill in South Kerry.

All the young men had checkered backgrounds, had left school early and some of them had dabbled in drugs.

The project seemed to give the adventurers a good sense of the importance of camaraderie.

The adventure gave new insights to the participants and brought home to them the importance of people working together.

Fitzgerald managed to instil in them a great sense of purpose. What must the man be like at half time in the dressing room?

The team made it to the summit minus one young man who had knee problems. It was surprising that the phsyio gave him the green light to set out on the climb.

A follow-up programme on the lives of the young men in five years time would make for an interesting programme.

A radio Jim Harris fixed

This comment was written in the first hours of Tuesday, February 23.

Is it a coincidence or was the writer aware that February 22 was the anniversary of the death of Jim Harris OP? Jim died in Newbridge in 2014.

A colourful character indeed. Jim Harris was a distant relative of the writer of this blog, through his mother and my father.

I'm just now..reading about Father Jim Harris's passing. Very sad, May he rest in peace. I was a boarder in Newbridge College 1971 - 1976 and can still remember this very colourful character. He fixed my radio!! Pat Smyth.

An obituary on Jim can be found on this blog on February 22, 2014 and an appreciation, which was published in 'The Irish Times' on March 17, 2014.

Being respectful in the time of Covid - 19

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

May I make a suggestion? We stop criticising all those who are right now trying to get us through this pandemic.

I’m greatly impressed with what is being done to protect us from Covid-19.

Of course mistakes are made, some people will drop the ball but there is a genuine combined effort to rid us of the scourge of this virus that is raging now for almost a year.

Government and Nphet with all their skills and expertise instil a sense of hope and security.

The HSE’s CEO  Paul Reid appears to be a genuine leader, a manager who brings his team with him. Our frontline workers are saving lives and they deserve our heartfelt support and respect. 

Day-in-day-out nurses, doctors, cleaners, cooks, maintenance staff and all their teams are battling in extraordinary circumstances to save lives. Can you imagine what it must be like to do extremely heavy work, wearing all that PPE gear for extended periods of time. And then they go home, exhausted, to their families, where they have to turn around and do more work.

 

Last week Ryan Tubridy told the story of two gardaí calling to an elderly woman who  couldn’t turn on her water main. Without any fuss they did the job. I keep saying it, it’s the accumulation of so many small acts of kindness and goodness that in the end will win the day.

If ever the expression you’re damned if you do and you're damned if you don’t had resonance it surely has to be now.

It’s time we stopped the criticism. Remember, there is a great resilience about us. Look at our history and see how we have overcome great suffering and difficulty and come out the other side stronger and better.

Instead of criticising wouldn’t it make far more sense if we put our energy into keeping an eye out for the weak and vulnerable. Only last week I was stretched out on the ground reading my water meter. A neighbour saw me and thought that I had collapsed. She immediately came out of her house to see was I ok. Isn’t that exactly the attitude we need right now. And it was a great lesson for me.

 

The majority of people, are putting their shoulder to the wheel and playing an integral role in banishing this plague.

Our bins are being collected, our grocery shops are open, our mail is being delivered, public transport is running and that’s all because of the dedication of those who do the work. And do it with a smile.

It is inspirational to see how an emergency brings out the best in most people. Why is it so easy to miss the extraordinary people?

And what makes it so strange is that they are right in front of our eyes. This pandemic certainly has brought them into the limelight. 

We need to keep them there.

And what can one say about those who have flouted the rules during these terrible times? Not much. We’ll be victorious without them.

Roll on the vaccine.

Christians, Jews and Muslims under one roof in Berlin

From the Guardian

On the site of a church torn down by East Germany’s communist rulers, a new place of worship is set to rise that will bring Christians, Jews and Muslims under one roof – and it has already been dubbed a “churmosquagogue”.

The foundation stone of the House of One in Berlin will be laid at a ceremony on 27 May, marking the end of 10 years of planning and the beginning of an estimated four years of construction, and symbolising a new venture in interfaith cooperation and dialogue. 

The €47m building, designed by Berlin architects Kuehn Malvezzi, will incorporate a church, a mosque and a synagogue linked to a central meeting space. 

People of other faiths and denominations, and those of no faith, will be invited to events and discussions in the large hall.

“The idea is pretty simple,” said Roland Stolte, a Christian theologian who helped start the project. “We wanted to build a house of prayer and learning, where these three religions could co-exist while each retaining their own identity.”

The House of One will be built on the site of St Peter’s church in Petriplatz, which was damaged during the second world war and demolished in 1964 by the GDR authorities. When the foundations of the church were uncovered more than a decade ago, consideration was given to a memorial or a new church on the site. “But we wanted to create a new kind of sacred building that mirrors Berlin today,” said Stolte. “The initiators are acting as placeholders. 

This is not a club for monotheistic religions – we want others to join us.”

The federal government and the state of Berlin have between them contributed €30m to the cost of the project, with another €9m coming from donations and fundraising. A new drive for contributions, launched in December, is expected to fill the gap of nearly €8m.

The project has been generally supported by faith communities and the public, said Stolte, although “in the first few years there were some fears that we were mixing religions or trying to create a new religion”.

The inclusion in the planning of people of no faith was a very important aspect of the House of One project, he said. “East Berlin is a very secular place. Religious institutions have to find new language and ways to be relevant, and to make connections.”

The day the Communist Manifesto was published

On this day, February 21, 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto.

It was originally called the Manifesto of the Communist Party.

In 2013, The Communist Manifesto was registered to UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme along with Marx's Das Kapital, Volume I.

Pope accepts resignation of Cardinal Robert Sarah

From the National Catholic Reporter

ROME — Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Robert Sarah as the head of the Vatican's worship congregation today in an unexpected announcement ending the tenure of one of the Vatican officials most often seen as an opponent of the pontiff's vision for the global church.

The Vatican release communicating the news did not give a reason for Sarah's departure or name who would be replacing him. In a tweet the cardinal alluded to the fact that he had turned 75, the traditional retirement age for bishops, last June.

More allegations about Chinese detention centres

Every day we are reading and hearing about genocide and sexual abuse in Chinese detention centres. And every day the Chinese authorities deny the allegations.

Why not allow national and international journalists visit these centres and see for themselves what is happening?

Allegations of shackled students and gang rape inside China's detention camps

By Ivan Watson and Rebecca Wright, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN)On the first day of her new teaching job at a Chinese government-run detention center in Xinjiang, Qelbinur Sidik said she saw two soldiers carry a young Uyghur woman out of the building on a stretcher.

"There was no spark of life in her face. Her cheeks were drained of color, she was not breathing," said Sidik, a former elementary school teacher who says she was forced to spend several months teaching at two detention centers in Xinjiang in 2017.

A policewoman who worked at the camp later told her the woman had died from heavy bleeding, though she didn't say what caused it. It was the first of many stories the policewoman would tell Sidik during the teacher's three-month assignment at the heavily-fortified building that housed female detainees. 

According to Sidik, the policewoman claimed to have been assigned to investigate reports of rape at the center by her superiors, though CNN has no evidence of that claim. However, Sidik said what she heard and saw herself was so disturbing that it made her ill.

Sidik's allegations are similar to those of former detainees who have spoken of rape and systematic sexual assault within China's vast detention network.

Her testimony is a rare account of a worker's direct experience of life inside the detention centers, where the US government alleges China is committing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities through a repressive campaign of mass detention, torture, forced birth control and abortions. 

The Chinese government has rejected allegations of genocide, and in a statement to CNN said "there is no so-called 'systematic sexual assault and abuse against women' in Xinjiang."

However, Sidik said the female police officer described how her male colleagues used to boast about it. "When (male guards) were drinking at night, the policemen would tell each other how they raped and tortured girls," Sidik told CNN from her new home in the Netherlands.

Dirty air is killing seven million people every year

According to World Health Organisation (WHO)  figures there are seven million premature deaths every year directly attributable to air pollution.

One third of all deaths from stroke, heart disease and lung cancer are due to air pollution.

In 1990 the first smoky coal ban was introduced in Dublin.

In spite of the 1990 ban, smog levels last December in some areas in Dublin were 15 times over the limit recommended by WHO.

The truth about language

Discussing the plans for this year's Leaving Certificate Examination on RTE's Morning Ireland today Sinn Féin's education spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire spoke about a 'more true choice'.

Can there be grades of truth? Maybe there can be. Don't we often say 'that's truer'. And there is a word 'truer'.

Language is fascinating.

North German city introduces a Covid curfew

Because of a Covid surge in the north German city of Flensburg in the State of Schleswig-Holstein a curfew is being introduced in the city between 21.00 and 05.00.

The State Government is also introducing stricter rules regarding personal contact.

Anti-Semitism lurks behind modern conspiracy theories

This article in The Irish Times yesterday is worth a read. A lovely piece of writing, informative and relevant.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/anti-semitism-lurks-behind-modern-conspiracy-theories-1.4485495#.YCu0j-uzH48.mailto

Today is Ash Wednesday.

If you have ever wondered how the date of Easter is decided - Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.

 

There is an ongoing discussion to fix a permanent date for the celebration of Easter.

 

This year Easter falls on April 4. The earliest it can be is March 22 and the latest date is April 25.

It's time the customer got a better deal

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

Two weeks ago Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary got into litres of hot water as a result of one of his classic performances on RTE’s Morning Ireland. He was critical of his usual old chestnuts, government, the EU, and this time he added Nphet to his list. He also implied that people who were complaining about not receiving refunds were being economical with the truth.

Later that day Joe Duffy picked up the ball and ran with the story. That led to an avalanche of listeners phoning in with their complaints with Ryanair.

At least one listener mentioned that he found it impossible to get through to a human voice when he phoned Ryanair.

And just as the listener was making his point I was trying to get through to Virgin Media.

I was told there was a waiting time of 30 minutes. I was at my lunch and decided to stay on hold. I kept the phone beside me, while listening to Joe Duffy’s Ryanair complainants. 

After 25 minutes of waiting a recorded voice told me that if I left my number with them they would call me back. I stupidly fell for the trick and gave my number. I had left my house after my lunch so I never got speaking to them.

Some days earlier I was confused with the new Bank of Ireland app so I unwisely decided to phone Bank of Ireland. I am fairly certain I spent at least 20 minutes before my call was answered.

It’s not that this was my first time to be left hanging on.

A friend of mine tells me he spent 50 minutes waiting to get speaking to someone at Sky. He closed the account and went for Saorview instead.

This behaviour by so many companies has now got out of hand and someone needs to stand up and shout stop. We, the customers need a better service than this. Where are all the regulators who are meant to be keeping an eye out for us?

It is outrageous that someone is asked to wait 30 minutes on the phone before they can speak to an agent. Virgin Media are doing a good business in Ireland and I believe that it is an insult to treat me in the manner they did two weeks ago. Indeed, in the end I gave up and my query has not been answered.

And so too with Bank of Ireland. Why should I have to wait so long for someone to pick up the phone? Some days later I queued for 30 minutes  at an AIB branch before getting to the teller’s counter.

What about this; if Ryanair, Virgin Media, Sky, Bank of Ireland, AIB employed more staff might it be possible for customers to get a better service? I imagine there is a very simple answer to that question. Or might it be that I am naive or a little stupid and don’t understand such matters? 

But of course it’s not just these four companies. It’s right across the board.

Why are we, the customer, allowing ourselves to be treated so badly. I’m thinking of the late Feargal Quinn’s words that the customer is king. Guess what, he believed it and acted on it.

The move from 240 pennies to 100 pence in a pound

On this day, February 15, 1971 Ireland changed to decimal coinage. 

It was the day that we moved from 240 pennies in a pound to 100 pence in a pound.

The days of 20 shillings in a pound and 12 pennies in a shilling were gone for ever.

The halfpennies were no more. Some years earlier the farthing had disappeared.

From February 15, 1971 there were a hundred new pence in a pound. The 2/- coin became a 10 pence coin.

The new coinage consisted of a one pence, two pence and the old shilling became a five pence coin.

The 2/6 disappeared as did the 10 shilling note. So too did the six pence, the threepence and the penny see the dust.

A new 50 pence coin was minted.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0209/766548-decimalisation-daydecimalisation-day/

Archbihop Dermot Farrell remembers the Stardust tragedy

Archbishop Dermot Farrell celebrated Mass today in St Joseph the Artisan, Bonnybrook as a mark of respect to all those affected by the Stardust tragedy, which happened 40 years ago.                                 

 

In today’s gospel we have the story of a ‘leper’ who comes to Jesus. There are many such stories in the gospels, and indeed all throughout the Bible.   In the ancient world, just as in ours, people asked, why: Why me? Why this?  It was all too easy to blame.  It was easy to link disease, or suffering, or some injustice to some cause in the person afflicted.  But life is not so black and white.   And Jesus constantly broke through such a mistaken and facile view of the world. 

 

Today, in the gospel, we see Jesus “stretch out his hand and touch” the leper. His healing touch crosses the boundary imposed on this person.

Like the leper, we come before Christ bearing the wounds gathered in life: the let-downs, the insecurities, the emotional scars, the physical weaknesses, the senseless tragedies with all their attendant trauma, pain and suffering.

 

Mark tells us that Jesus was moved with pity, with compassion; he was moved by those who appealed for his healing touch.  Time and time again Jesus was moved by compassion for all kinds of human infirmity.  Today, we might say, my heart goes out to you.

 

Who could fail to be moved by the suffering, the weight of hurts and memories, festering for forty years now, of the families who lost 48 loved ones in the Stardust disaster, and of the more than 200 who were injured?  So many families have endured enormous suffering, and today are re-living the horror of that night which is seared into the hearts and memories of a generation.  A whole community was traumatised in the horror of that dreadful night.   The lives of so many have been blighted by the loss of those young people, who were so full of hope and promise. That grievous loss has been compounded by their long quest for a full account of the tragedy that satisfies their need for truth.

 

But that is only one side of the coin.  The other side: when touched, how did Jesus respond?  When touched, he touched.  He moved with compassion, he reached out.   The Church in Dublin has accompanied this grieving community over these long years.  This community of faith is here today as a sign of our continuing solidarity with them, as a sign of the healing presence of Jesus, who is close to all who suffer, who carry the scars of the legacy of that tragic event.  As your bishop, I come here this morning to stand in solidarity with you in your inexpressible grief and sadness, to pray both for the victims of this awful tragedy and for healing for the families who suffered such loss. The loss of life is always tragic.  But the loss of young and innocent life is beyond tragedy.

 

It is a custom for the Inauguration of the President of the United States, to ask a prominent American poet to compose a poem for the occasion, and to read it at the ceremony.  Jill Biden, President Biden’s wife, suggested asking a young African American Poet—the twenty two-year old Amanda Gorman, who grew up in St Brigid’s parish in Los Angeles.  This is what happened, and this young woman’s poem of hope, born out of the shock and dismay of the storming of the US Capitol on January 6^th captured the imagination of the world.   In her poem, “The Hill We Climb”, she proclaims, “When day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”

 

In a real way this young woman captures what so many affected by the Stardust tragedy have been looking for these last 40 years: the events of that night 40 years ago have cast a long and deep shadow. To continue with Gorman, this is a “loss we carry, a sea we must wade.”

 

After such a long time, the temptation is to seek solace elsewhere.  But that would be an illusion.  It is into the shade that the light must shine. In the end, the journey to peace, is a journey we ourselves must make.  Nobody can make that journey for us.

 

The First Reading from the Book of Leviticus and the Gospel seem very relevant to our world that right now trying to cope with a very infectious disease.  It should be noted, however, that this section of Book of Leviticus is not concerned with what we know as Hansen’s Disease, but with various ailments of the skin.  The Gospel reminds us to treat all people, especially the sick, with dignity, care and respect.   Shaming or humiliating the afflicted is never acceptable.   Furthermore, even if isolation or social distance is required to avoid the spread of COVID-19, our sisters and brothers, especially the elderly should not be forgotten.  Jesus’s openness and compassionate touch are excellent examples for everyone, especially those who care for the sick, of how to interact with people in need of healing.  To be a Christian is to compassionate.  But that is one side of the coin: When I am moved with compassion, how do I respond?

 

There is always someone in the community who needs to be healed, who needs the kind of touch that brings healing and peace.  The touch of Christ. To be effective it does not have to be a physical touch.  That is not crucial; what is crucial it that you are reaching out.  It is hearts that must touch, even when hands do not.   Very often that involves listening with empathy to a problem we cannot solve.  To reach out you only need the compassion God gave you when he made you.  

 

What do we do?  Lent starts on Wednesday next.  With it the recurring Catholic question:  What will I give up for Lent? The drink or sweets, binging on ‘Netflix’ or taking to social media to vent our grievances?  The waistline penance, fast for the new swimwear, the Costa del Sol look.  Not too bad, but not particularly Christian, hardly in the image of Christ.  This Lent do not think just about giving up something; simply give.  Not something; someone.  Give yourself.  Imitate the compassionate Christ.  Be honest and humble before with one another.  Listen when someone asks you for a few minutes of your time, for the compassion in your heart.  If you hear that plea, try not to ignore it. It just might be Christ.

Parents mystified gardaí did not link missing body with son

A most interesting story in The Irish Times yesterday.

It is difficult to understand how the gardaí did not make the link between the missing man and the body that was washed up off Inis Mór.

The piece is tinged with a profound sadness.

Well worth a read.

David Raleigh

As Easter Sunday, April 7th, 1996, drew to a close, the evening’s sun cast a shadow over Inis Mór, off Galway Bay, as the ocean tide carried the body of an unidentified young man onto the island’s rocky shoreline.

The unclothed remains were recovered by gardaí near Kileaney on the largest of the three Aran Islands shortly after 5.15pm, after they were alerted to the shore by a female tourist who had been out walking.

The body was no longer fully intact. Some parts were missing and others were decomposing. Without clothes, ID documents or tattoos, there was little to help gardaí identify the body.

There are just two press cuttings about the grim discovery of a man with “neatly cut brown hair” – one in the Tuam Herald (April 13th, 1996), and another in the Evening Herald (April 9th, 1996). Besides that, there was little publicity.

Last week, two gardaí called to Denis and Mary Walsh’s home, in Caherdavin, Limerick, informing the elderly couple that the remains belonged to their son, Denis jnr, who had gone missing a month before the grim find.

The couple’s immediate shock was soon coupled with confusion. Denis Walsh jnr (23) had been reported missing to gardaí at Mayorstone, in Limerick, on March 9th, 1996, less than a month before the find on Inis Mór.

The couple had travelled to Galway the day before. For all of the false leads they followed in the years since, it is this journey to Galway on April 6th, 1996, that pains most.

“We had been travelling around again with the flyers and we decided we’d pull into Gort Garda station [that day], so I dropped in a flyer. They asked me for a few extra ones because they were covering four other outlying stations,” says Denis Snr.

The couple returned with flyers to Galway little more than a month later, the day before Limerick gardaí appeared on the RTE Crimeline programme, appealing for information about their missing son.

By then, his body had been in the mortuary of University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) for weeks: “There was no connection made, as far as we can see,” the dead man’s brother, Paul, says today.

“How come the gardaí at the time did not join up the dots sooner? Did no garda in Galway check what people were reported missing around that time, and was no garda in Limerick aware of a body being found in Galway? I’m not satisfied,” Denis Walsh snr says.

Denis Walsh jr (23), Caherdavin, Limerick, who had been missing since 1996. Photograph: Liam Burke/ Press 22 Described as sensitive and kind, Denis Walsh jnr was a skilled sportsman

A Garda letter to the family this week has explained that the remains were “taken by boat to the mainland” on April 8th, 1996 “and brought to the mortuary at University College Hospital in Galway for a postmortem”.

DNA samples were checked three times in the years since by the forensic science laboratory – in July 2008, March 2011 and June 2017, but with no success. However, they were checked again in recent weeks.

Due to advances in DNA science, this time a match was made with samples taken years before from Denis’s parents. On February 5th, Mayorstone gardaí in Limerick were notified that a match had been made.

His body remained at the UCHG mortuary until 2014, “when the coroner gave permission for the burial of the remains in a communal grave in Bohermore Cemetery in Galway”, the Garda letter explains.

Separate to this, a Garda spokeswoman told The Irish Times: “The burial, in a county council graveyard, was arranged by University Hospital Galway following consultation with the coroner.”

Galway west coroner Dr Ciarán MacLoughlin says, “There will be an inquest and relevant information will be available then”, but that it was “a matter for the gardaí first to prepare a file”.

Denis Walsh pictured on his First Holy Communion day.
Limerick garda acknowledge the Walsh family have been left with lots of justifiable questions on how it took so long to identify Denis

Now, the Walsh family want to know whether or not Limerick gardaí were aware at the time that Galway gardaí had recovered a body and had Galway gardaí known that a Limerick man was missing. And if not, why not?

Gardaí have yet to respond to these queries. On Thursday, the Walsh family met gardaí and asked to see the file on the recovery of Denis’s remains. However, a fire in Salthill Garda station some years ago destroyed some documents.

The Garda letter, signed by a senior Limerick garda, acknowledges the Walsh family have been left “with lots of justifiable questions on how it took so long to identify Denis”.

A retired garda who was called to the scene at Kileaney in 1996 has passed on his contact details to the Walsh family should they wish to speak to him, the Irish Times has learned.

The body of Denis Walsh was “treated with dignity, the body was blessed, and a doctor attended the scene”, the family have been assured.

The family have sought the postmortem report, and are in the process of seeking permission to exhume Denis’s remains, in order to lay him to rest in his native Limerick.

Gardaí said “foul play was not suspected” and that “with all sudden or unexplained deaths, a coroner’s inquest must take place”. However, this could take up to seven months because of backlogs caused by the pandemic.

Described as “sensitive and kind”, Denis Walsh jnr was a skilled sportsman, his family say, once called up to the Munster U- 19s rugby squad, and lining out for Shannon RFC, Na Piarsaigh GAA, and Caherdavin Celtic.

However, sport and college ambitions fell away after he returned “a completely changed person” from a post-Leaving Certificate working holiday in Holland, after suffering a psychotic reaction when experimenting with drugs for the first time.

Diagnosed with bipolar in 1991, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after suffering an episode at a music concert: “It was like talking to someone else. Before he went away he had a very calm personality, but when he got very ill it was hard, we were always wondering what was Denis going to do, we had no control over it,” said Denis’s mother, Mary (82).

“We were very close, and he would come into the house at night and he would look for me to have a chat and he would tell me he was struggling. He tried so hard, he really did try hard, but he would end up crying when he was not on his medication, he was looking for help.”

The family did their best to cope. There were brief periods when calm was restored and the boy who was once there returned, but such moments were short lived.

Speaking to The Irish Times at their home in Caherdavin, Mary, Denis snr, and their sons Mike (50), and Paul (57) remember a day in 1995 when Denis jnr had to be pulled back from the brink from the sea at Salthill.

More psychiatric hospital admittances followed. “It was a constant strain,” Denis snr says, his voice trembling with grief. The loss has broken their parents, say their sons, as they try to organise a visit now to his Galway grave.

Previously, his father had gone to every Limerick hurling match, but he stopped: “I used to go to all the matches, but then I was going into town five nights a week scouting around looking for Denis,” he says.

Holidays were stopped, lest he come “walking back in the door” while they were away: “We haven’t put up the decorations since Denis left because he used to love doing that and dressing up the tree,” says his mother.

Remembering that there was “something strange” in her son on the day he went missing, she says he “went out and then he came back in and he just said goodbye, and he never said it like that before, it was very ‘final’. I told him I was making his favourite dinner – bacon and cabbage. I haven’t made it since.”

© 2021 irishtimes.com

Let's make it our business to respect others

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

I still have childhood memories of teachers telling us about lepers and how they were ostracised by their communities. The expression leper colony rings in my ears.

In tomorrow’s Gospel St Mark tells the reader how Jesus stretched out his hand, touched the leper and cured him. In the first reading from the Book of Leviticus we are told that a leper is unclean and must ‘live apart’. And then in the second reading – from his first letter to the Corinthians  – St Paul tells us: “Never to do anything  offensive to anyone - to Jews or Greeks or to the Church of God; just as I try to be helpful to anyone at all times…” (1 Corinthians 10: 32 - 33)

There is such a wealth of wisdom in those readings. 

The reading from Leviticus sounds harsh but it is dealing with regulations dealing with legal purity. 

And like all writing, it has to be taken in the context of the time in which it was written.

Both New Testament readings concentrate on healing, using words and actions to reveal the way in which we should deal with each other. They are about showing genuine respect to our fellow citizens.

Imagine how our world, our society, our lives would be transformed if we all made it our business to respect the other person. If we are open-minded and honest important truths are revealed to us. 

Take last Saturday’s Tommy Tiernan show on RTE 1. 

There were three guests, an actor, a retired judge and  a former international rugby player. Yes, I have seen Stephen Rea on screen, I’ve seen Brian O’Driscoll play rugby and I recall once before seeing retired judge Gillian Hussey being interviewed on television.

I found myself listening to every word the three guests said. Three very  different people speaking openly and honestly about their very different jobs and lives, yet they all had the same thing to say. I sat up in my chair when actor Stephen Rea spoke about his late wife Dolours Price, who was a prominent IRA member and suffered from alcoholism, and he then went on to talk about his relationship with his two sons. Stephen spoke with great warmth about Samuel Beckett. 

Rugby star Brian O’Driscoll told Tommy how he was affected by the suicide  of a close friend. He also told a lovely story about organising a ‘sleep-over’ with his two girls in their car one night and how he waited  in the car until after 10pm and they were fast asleep before carrying them back up to their beds. 

Gillian Hussey recalled how she had helped a young woman, who appeared before her in court, to change her ways and leave the world of crime behind her. 

The young woman got her act together and blossomed. The woman later  invited the judge to all the big moments in her life.

When Hussey, Rea and O’Driscoll were asked to name  the most significant moments in their own lives they all cited reaching out to another person and being able to help. And that could be in their professional work or in their personal lives. 

Of course they spoke about job satisfaction and how privileged they were to have jobs that they cherished and liked. But it was clear to see that the real highlights were those moments when they were doing something for other people, giving a helping hand to the other person.

And isn’t that exactly what healing and curing is all about. It’s being present, offering the helping hand, saying the wise and uplifting word to the other person. It’s about being kind.

I was captivated watching that show last Saturday evening. There was little or nothing said about God or religion. But all three people were beacons of great inspiration for me. 

Without any fuss or any illusions of any sort of pomp or grandeur they were speaking and doing exactly what St Paul is advising us to do in his letter to the Corinthians and they were also mirroring the kind, healing act of Jesus to the leper, who asked to be cured.

The fear of Covid makes it easier for us to understand the plight of the leper. Living through these, the strangest of times,  surely has made us extra aware of the importance of reaching out to the other person, offering a helping hand, which might even be a friendly smile.

Names can exert control and shape identity

There was  a sub-heading in The Irish Times yesterday which ran: Whether given by parents or imposed by colonisers or captors, names can exert control, shape identity and even obliterate history.

People of a certain age will remember the adage: Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.

It made no sense in the past and it makes no sense today.

On a somewhat related topic, retired journalist Vincent Browne one evening on one of his shows said: When we give titles to people we give them power over us.

Wise words.

A reader recalls Dominicans working in Trinidad

This is a comment made by a reader. It also appears on the blogpost of April 21, 2019.

Thank you so much for answering re Joe Bergin. 

Yes, I did know Ino Ryan left years ago and had a family. I also know he died. [Transport Minister is a nephew of Ino Ryan]

I do recall with fondness Fr Foley and one or two others from Trinidad. I am from the West Indies and met some of the Dominicans through University. 

Sometimes people become a part of your heart and it stays that way though so many years pass. I wonder if folk with dementia are still doing their souls work just like those in the community of saints. 

It just seems so amazing that I found your blog and JB's [Joe Bergin] re his leaving. I appreciate your blog and your willingness to connect. Thanks again for answering. Joyce2