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[Top: Joanne Hayes and (above) John Courtney (right) then head of the Garda Murder Squad, with Gerry O’Carroll at the Kerry Babies Tribunal in  April 1985 ]

Thirty years on..

A retired detective inspector who was involved in the Kerry Babies investigation has called for the exhumation of the remains of both male infants for full DNA analysis.
Gerry O’Carroll still agrees with a prevailing Garda view at the time that Joanne Hayes, the woman at the centre of the saga, had twins.
“For that reason, there’s no other way to establish if the babies were twins, only by DNA analysis.,” he said.

Exhumation ‘would resolve’ Kerry Babies case (Donal Hickey, Irish Examiner)

Alternatively…

The Garda case against Joanna Hayes advanced a theory of superfecundation– that she had had been impregnated by two men around the same time – something that was theoretically possible but unprovable given the weakness of corroborating technical and forensic evidence.
For example there was no forensic evidence that Joanne had been stabbed in Joanne’s bed as the confessions obtained by the gardai had claimed.
Furthermore there was no evidence that the baby that was buried on the farm was not a stillbirth. The case built up by the gardai was riddled with inconsistencies.The DPP advised the Garda Superintendent to withdraw charges at the earliest opportunity…

The Books That Defined Ireland (Bryan Fanning and Tom Garvin)

Kerry Babies Case-the tipping point for Irish Women’s Rights (Nell Mcafferty, A Woman To Blame, Cork University Press)

(Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

chalcedony-on-chrysocolla-in-malachite-diglet-super-mario-mineral-5 chalcedony-on-chrysocolla-in-malachite-diglet-super-mario-mineral-4chalcedony-on-chrysocolla-in-malachite-diglet-super-mario-mineral-3 chalcedony-on-chrysocolla-in-malachite-diglet-super-mario-mineral-2
Recently sold for an impressive $5000 by rock dealer (and obvious Tolkein fan) Rob Levinsky of The Arkenstone, this extraordinarily textured mineral known as Chalcedony on Chrysocolla stalactites (pocket) was originally discovered in Arizona around fifty years ago. Lavinsky sez:

Frank Valenzuela obtained this specimen from a fellow miner at the Inspiration, where he was a miner and then a shaft supervisor in the 1950s-1960s. It was collected, he recalls, in the early 1960s. It is a classic example of the quartz-covered chrysocolla stalactites from that time, but unusual in that it was preserved as a whole pocket. The piece glows when backlit, as the top surface is partially translucent and there is a small hole in back of the vug, to let light into the pocket for backlighting. The largest stalactites are 2 cm. The pocket opening is 2 inches across.

twistedsifter

IMG_8194[Medical student Cathal MacDonncha and his longbordeaux]

MS Ireland write:

In support of Multiple Sclerosis Ireland and in the run up to World MS Day on May 28, Cathal MacDonncha is undertaking an epic longboarding trek from Bordeaux, France to Bilbao, Spain. Cathal, a final year student, plans to use his longboard to travel approximately 360km during May 19 –June 3 this summer after he completes his medical degree at the University of Limerick. He’ll be carrying a helmet and a backpack with his tent and spork at the ready for some late night tins of beans cooked over a campfire to keep him going. He is funding his own travel, food and accommodation and all donations made will go to MS Ireland.

Donate here

dalkey

Squatting rights and fake gold?

To Dalkey then…

Sibling of Daedalus writes:

“We all know about the Great Dalkey Land-Grab of 2008. But did your readers know that the practice of squatting and gold-digging in Dalkey has been going on for over a century?
Back in the day the Commons of Dalkey was common grazing land which spread over Dalkey Hill nearly to Bray. When stone quarrying started on Dalkey Hill (“the Long Rock”) in 1817 the workers from the quarries built makeshift places of residence on the commons.
Largely unnoticed at first, the Dalkey miners came to public prominence in 1834 when the daughter of one of them, Miss Etty Scott (a fine-looking girl by all accounts) made claim that a horde of Viking gold was buried under the hill.
Miss Scott’s assertion resulted in the establishment of a Dalkey Goldmining Society and much digging, which ended ignominiously with the only thing discovered in the hill a bag of angry cats left there by prankster Trinity College medical students*
There was a happy ending for the Dalkey miners however; a case around the same time involving squatters on Ballymore Eustace held that they were entitled to ownership of the land occupied by them for the past twenty or so years, and they sold their plots (on which most of the big houses of Dalkey were subsequently built) to building speculators for substantial sums of money.
Sadly, the fair Etty (described by ballad singers of the day as ‘Dalkey’s beautiful dreamer’) failed to benefit from the sale of her father’s plot, having died of consumption, or possibly chagrin not long after the failure of her abortive gold mining enterprise…”

The Dalkey Gold Dreamer (Enterprising irishman)

*the cats were covered in phosphorescent to make them glow in the dark.

Pic via homethoughtsfromabroad

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Michael O’Farrell, of the Irish Mail on Sunday, was on RTÉ One’s Morning Ireland earlier to discuss his story about a whistleblower who claimed staff at Bus Éireann received payments, favours, holidays and gifts in return for contracts to take disabled children to school.

The whistleblower’s claims were made in an affidavit sent to the Department of Transport last year. The semi-State company launched an internal investigation which concluded there was ‘no basis’ for any disciplinary action or for the gardaí to be notified.

Bus Éireann’s CEO Martin Nolan subsequently wrote to the Public Accounts Committee to notify it of Bus Éireann’s conclusions and stating that the whistleblower had “withdrawn his allegations”.

However, Mr O’Farrell obtained a secret tape recording of a meeting between a Bus Éireann official and the whistleblower, in which the whistleblower stood by his claims.

Michael O’Farrell: “Well, the story re-emerged this week because of a secret tape which we obtained of an interview between the Bus Éireann investigation panel and a particular whistleblower whom they interviewed. Now, the contents of that tape appeared quite significantly at odds with the conclusions of the Bus Éireann investigations, that Bus Éireann CEO Martin Nolan sent to the PAC and it’s those things that are at odds, that appear to be… the reason that this has now emerged.”

Rachel English: “You have had this tape for a while, so why has it become significant now?”

O’Farrell: “Until we knew what was the result of the investigation, the tape didn’t really have any significance, it was simply an interview process. But, when we saw that Martin Nolan told the PAC, for example that the whistleblower had withdrawn his claims, we knew, on the tape, that that wasn’t the case. When we saw that Martin Nolan had denied making any improper payments, it’s clear, when you listen to the tape, that that’s not the case. The whistle-blower in fact, does detail some gifts and services that he provided, or that he allegedly provided in return for keeping his contracts – and it’s also clear when you listen to the tape that the whistle-blower did not accept, as Martin Nolan told the PAC, that he had lost his contract in a fair tender. In fact, he maintains throughout his interview that he claims he’s been the victim for not contributing to a specific……”

English: “Can you tell us a little more about this – what does this man allege was going on at Bus Éireann?”

O’Farrell: “Effectively, he alleges that every year he was reliant on particular individuals to have his contracts renewed. And that those individuals had a great deal of power over whether, or not, he, and other contractors got their contracts. Now, in return for keeping their contracts, he and other contractors allege that they felt under pressure to provide gifts, free services, free taxi rides. There are mentions of holidays abroad paid-for flights, hotels – those kind of gifts are alleged to have been provided by Bus Éireann contractors in order for people to keep their contracts.”

English: “And what has Bus Éireann said then, about these allegations?”

O’Farrell: “Officially, to the PAC, Martin Nolan said that there was not enough evidence to refer to gardaí. Bus Éireann have always denied that these kind of practices can occur within the company. But going back years, there have been hints that these improper activities do occur – and it’s pretty clear that a real independent investigation has never taken place. I think this matter now is being referred to the gardaí by ministers and it’s probably the right place for it. In fact I’m aware of an investigation that the gardai would be able to pursue in this case.”

English: “And the man at the centre of this, is he prepared to go to the gardaí?”

O’Farrell: “Yes, in fact the man at the centre of this has a partner, or colleague who has made similar allegations. That person has already had a couple of informal meetings with the Fraud Squad. The two individuals have also… they’re receiving legal help from Transparency International who is preparing a formal case for the Fraud Squad and it seems as if an investigation will launch quite shortly.”

Read the former Bus Éireann contactor’s affidavit in full here

Broadsheet.ie