On the afternoon of 31st January 1984, fifteen-year-old Ann Lovett was discovered in a grotto just outside the town of Granard, by passers-by. Ann had just given birth to a baby boy. This episode explores how the tragedy prompted a sea-change in Irish attitudes.
The story of Timothy and Ansty Buckley whose everyday lives became public knowledge with the publication of Eric Cross's book 'The Tailor and Ansty' and introduced sex into Ireland long before Gay Byrne mentioned it on The Late Late Show.
The rise and fall of Bishop Eamon Casey whose relationship with Annie Murphy - and the existence of their son Michael - became public in 1992
A clash between a priest and a teacher, Michael O Shea, who defied him in Fanore, County Clare, in 1915 led to violence, scandal within the local community and questions in the British Houses of Parliament. The teacher was dismissed for marrying the woman he loved.
Scannal looks at the controversy surrounding Ben Dunne of Dunnes Stores.
This week's programme looks back at some of the fraudsters who fleeced us during the 1980s. For glamour and scale, John DeLorean and his futuristic sports car will be best remembers, but solicitor Elio Malocca, and the CIS Tontine saving scheme also left many in financial ruin
A look back at the grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented events of the summer of 1982 when the country was rocked by a series of particularly violent murders. A massive Garda manhunt ensued and eventually the net closed - on the home of then Attorney General, Patrick Connolly. What was a double murderer doing in the flat of the most powerful lawyer in the State? Why did the Gardaí not alert Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey that they were going to raid the Attorney General's flat?
Brian Lenihan's "Mature Recollection", Peter Brooke singing "My Darling Clementine" on the Late Late Show, and Pádraig Flynn with his three houses - Scannal looks at political gaffes which happened live on our television screens.
A look at the eventful career of Michelle Smith which spanned three Olympics: Seoul, Barcelona and most successfully Atlanta in 1996, but was banned four years later after a drug test.
The story of the Kerry Babies scandal which rocked Ireland in 1984.
his programme traces the story of notorious entrepreneur Kenneth Littlejohn who mixed in the right circles, joined MI6 and then robbed a bank.
Sean Doherty's tenure as Minister for Justice in 1982 was short but tumultuous. The most explosive scandal associated with him was the tapping of journalists' phones for party political purposes. Ten years later Doherty claimed that Charlie Haughey had known about the tapping at the time, something Haughey always denied.
We begin in the US, with the notorious incident at Chappaquiddick in 1969, when a car driven by Ted Kennedy went off a bridge, resulting in the death of its passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
What really happened in Jack White's in 1996 when Tom Nevin was found dead in his Wicklow pub? His wife Catherine Nevin must know because she was convicted of the murder in a sensational court case that made the headlines.
Garry MacDonncha investigates the 1975 abduction of Dutch businessman Tiede Herrema, when the kidnappers demanded the release of several high-profile prisoners. Despite an extensive Gardai operation, it would be 18 days before they were located, and a further 18 were spent laying siege to the group's hideout in Co Kildare. Featuring interviews with the industrialist and his wife, as well as Government ministers, reporters and negotiators.
The infamous story of the Late Late Show chair. In 1997, the long-running chat show ran an antiques restoring competition, which was won by Co Donegal resident Siubhan Maloney. However, events took an unexpected turn when furniture restorer Joshua Duffy claimed her winning chair was his work. The resulting dispute turned into a lengthy legal battle which gripped the nation.
For more than twenty years Father Michael Cleary led a very public life and was known for being outspoken and often controversial. Throughout the eighties and early nineties he spoke out for the church on divisive issues such as abortion, divorce and most contentiously of all the X-case. But in death Michael Cleary became a far more controversial figure than he had ever been during his lifetime, and ironically will be remembered more for what he didn’t speak about than anything he ever said while he was alive. Because for twenty-six years he had a secret relationship with his housekeeper Phyllis Hamilton and the couple had two children; the first Michael Ivor was put up for adoption in 1970, the youngest, Ross, was born in 1976. This week’s Scannal features the first television interview with Ross, Michael Cleary’s son, since his mother died from cancer in 2001. In it he talks about his memories of his mother and father’s relationship, both in public and private, and his own relationship with his parents. He also talks about going public with the story and the pressures of not being believed for six long years until it was proven beyond doubt by DNA testing that Father Michael Cleary was his father. The programme also features an interview with psychiatrist Professor Ivor Browne who treated Phyllis from the age of twelve after she had had an abusive childhood and had spent time in various institutions. Browne remained a friend for the rest of her life and was aware of her secret relationship for twenty years, urging her to leave on a number or occasions. He also confronted Cleary about it and in the early seventies, he even went as far as setting up a meeting between the couple and Cleary’s mentor and friend Bishop Eamon Casey. Neither Browne nor Cleary were aware at the time, that Casey himself had secretly fathered a child. The programme also includes a clip from Peter Lennon’s documentary film “Rocky Road to Dublin” which was fil
This is the story of a famous Irish trainer, of an English stockbroker who fancied himself as a trainer, of a businessman from Cork with a suitcase full of money, and of their attempt to pull off the greatest betting coup of all time. It involved two horses, both chestnut; not identical, but similar enough. And it all happened at a racecourse that looks like a fairground. A year of painstaking preparation went in to two minutes of frantic effort at Cartmel racecourse, in England, on the August bank holiday weekend of 1974. A horse called Gay Future carried the hopes of a colourful cast of characters, known affectionately as the ‘Cork Mafia,’ who had placed bets in betting offices all over London. They chose the busiest race day of the year with 10 race meetings taking place throughout the U.K. They picked Cartmel, a small Cumbrian track with no ‘blower’ – no connection between the bookies on-course and their colleagues in betting offices throughout the nation. And they pulled it off. Almost.
"In 1999, after many years of heated debate, Telecom Éireann was finally being sold off. The ordinary people of Ireland were to be given a golden opportunity to share in the economic boom. Overnight they would be catapulted into the frantic world of the stock market. People who had never bought a share in their lives were going to make a killing. This was touted as a ‘sure fire’ thing and a nest egg for many in later life. A new shareholding democracy! The PR machinery went into overdrive. Glossy ads beamed down on us night and day to the tribal rhythm of Dúlamán, enticing us to take ownership of our birthright and shares in our national telecommunications system, Telecom Éireann. Many people fell under the spell of the Dúlamán, over a half a million in fact. But even then, they had to apply in advance and hope that they would get the right to buy shares, while still ignorant of the price! The much anticipated flotation day finally arrived on 9thJuly, 1999. Mary O’Rourke – then Minister for Public Enterprise, Charlie McCreevey – then Minister for Finance, Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and Telecom CEO, Alfie Kane revealed the share price – €3.90 per share. Only one in ten of the almost 600,000 new shareholders sold their shares for a quick profit. Most people were in for the long haul. Flotation fever turned to mild concern when the share price reflected market unease and began to trend downwards. But the message from above was quite clear: ‘don’t panic. Everything will be all right.’ The Government gave the added incentive of an end-of-year share bonus if people held on till then – and that’s what most of them did. But the share price continued to go in one direction only and that was down. Disbelief turned to anger as it emerged that executives and company directors had received huge bonuses and stock options on foot of the flotation. Senator Shane Ross and broadcaster Eamon Dunphy took up the fight. Ang
The story of Fr Brendan Smyth whose abuse of the children in his care was known within the Catholic Church as early as the 1940s. The programme depicts how he was sheltered in an abbey in County Cavan - despite the fact that at the time he wanted by the RUC. The case not only opened thorough investigations into child abuse within the church - but also brought down the government of the day.
The story of the Dunnes Stores strike of the mid-80s in which twelve workers went on strike against the company's handling of goods from apartheid South Africa. The case lasted for over two years, with many international humans rights organisations became involved.
The story of disgraced Fianna Fail politician, Ray Burke. A popular man who had status and power but lost it all because of his involvement in corrupt politics. Contributions from Cathal MacGiolla, Sean Duignan, Frank Buckley, Oliver Barry of Century Radio, James Gogarty, Cilm MacEochlaidh, and developer Michael Bailey.
The story of the Aer Lingus Tuskar Rock air crash in 1968, the single biggest loss in the history of Ireland aviation with fifty seven passengers missing. The programme attempts to investigate some of the causes of the accident and the various conspiracies that followed in its wake.
The Republic had qualified for their first major tournament in 8 years. The country was awash with colour in the build-up, the feel-good factor was in evidence and fans were spending thousands of Euro travelling to support the Boys in Green in the Far-East. The team were based on the tiny, idyllic Pacific island of Saipan, for a bit of R&R, before the tournament began. Then we were hit with the biggest bombshell of all time in Irish sport: team captain and our most famous player Roy Keane was being sent home. What followed can only be described as madness. Keane, McCarthy and Saipan was the only topic of conversation in the home, in the workplace and on the street. Why was he sent home? Who was to blame? Could it be resolved? Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy had never seen eye to eye, but the average fan thought they could have put their differences behind them for the sake of the nation. Everything came to a head when Keane gave an interview to the Irish Times which was printed in full, where he let his feelings be known about what he felt was the lack of ambition and organisation within the Irish set-up. Mick McCarthy was extremely unhappy and called a team meeting where he brought up the topic of Keane’s article. This was like a red rag to a bull. Keane is reputed to have vented his spleen in an attack which lasted ten minutes, as he told McCarthy what he really thought of him. With the backing of the senior players, the Irish manager had no option but to send Keane home. Back home, the country was split down the middle. Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern was asked to get involved. Niall Quinn liaised from Japan with Keane’s agent and his own agent, Michael Kennedy, hoping to find a compromise. Eventually, it looked like there was a chance Keane could come back into the squad, if he apologised. The stage was set. Keane decided to give an exclusive interview to RTÉ and it was felt that he needed to give some concessions. He never did apologise howev
A look at the case of Fr. Niall Molloy whose body was discovered in the bedroom of wealthy business people Richard and Theresa Flynn in July 1985. It appears that Molloy had business interests with the couple, and, despite the fact that he had received a number of blows to the head, the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence. It was later revealed that there were connections between the presiding judge and the defendants.
A documentary on the world of wealthy Castlebar power brokers and politicians, the Flynn family. In the 80s and 90s Padraig Flynn was a successful politician until an appearance on RTE's Late Late Show revealed a vein of corruption.
A documentary on the scandal that surrounded Irish show jumper Cian O'Connor when he was stripped of his Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympic Games when it was discovered that his horse, Waterford Crystal, was under the influence of performance-enhancing drugs.
A documentary on the scandal that saw the suspension of Dr. Michael Neary from his post as Consultant Obstetrician at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda in 1998. Having worked at the hospital since 1974, Neary performed one hundred and twenty nine Caesarean hysterectomies - an unusually high number. When hospital staff raised concerns in the early seventies, their complaints were ignored and it was not until over twenty years that Neary was finally suspended and a compensation fund set up for his victims
A documentary on the scandal of property tycoon Patrick Gallagher who benefited from his inheritance and political connections to create an illegal property investment empire in the 1970s. Subsequently, Gallagher was sentenced to two years in 1982 in the Magilligan Prison, Northern Ireland. Gallagher's case was, however, never tried in the south.
A documentary on the tragic fire at St. Joseph's Orphanage and Industrial School, Cavan, in February, 1943, in which thirty-five children and an old woman were killed. The program takes the form of an investigation and exposes widespread neglect, incompetence and the inadequacies of the fire service in dealing with the disaster despite the alarms raised by local people.
A look at the controversial issue of electronic voting.
Documentary looking at the sexual abuse of young swimmers by swimming coaches in Ireland in the 1990s. The programme looks primarily at the two national coaches involved in paedophile acts: Derry O'Rourke and George Gibney, who had been raping young swimmers under their care for over thirty years, but also examines the case of Frank McCann, who murdered his wife and daughter in order to cover up an improper sexual relationship.
A look back at the riots caused by English neo-Nazi football thugs at Landsdowne Road Stadium on February 15th, 1995 during a friendly rugby match between the republic of Ireland and England. Contributors: Aidan Fitzmaurice (Evening Herald), Sean Connolly (FAI), Ger Canning (RTE), Damian Mac Gabhann, Ben Eglington (cameraman), Dr. Rogan Taylor, David Kelly (footballer), Alan Milton (Irish Sun).
A look back at the case of Nadine Coyle, who was only sixteen-years-old when she auditioned for POPSTARS, despite the age limit being eighteen.
Documentary looking back at the wrongful imprisonment by the state of Dean Lyons, a young drugs addict wrongfully convicted of the murder of two elderly women in Grangegorman, Dublin, 1997.
A look back to September 1995 when a priest, Fr. Michael Kennedy, from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, accused a young local woman of trying to spread the AIDS Virus by sleeping with various men. The event sparked off a media frenzy and highlighted the general ignorance about AIDS in the community.
This episode deals with the child pornography investigation, Operation Amethyst, which lead to over one hundred arrests in Ireland. When the FBI shut down the pornographic Internet site of Thomas and Janice Reidy in the USA, they acquired a customer list of over 60,000 users, including a number of Irish customers. Much of the downloaded material was of a paedophile nature. This led to one of the Garda Siochana�s biggest investigations, Operation Amethyst, which began in May 2002, and resulted in some 86 searches and a number of investigations into others with membership to the site. Those charged and found guilty included chef Tim Allen of Ballymaloe Cookery School, Francis Daams, Kevin Hunt, Robert Lee, and Paul McDaid. Implicated also was Chief Justice Brian Curtin, whose trial collapsed in the Circuit Court due to an invalid warrant which subsequently led to the establishment of an Oireachtas Committee to review the case, and a series of controversial events including the retirement of the Judge with a full pension.
In November 1984, two hundred miles off the Kerry coast, seven tonnes of ammunition are transferred from an American fishing boat, The Valhalla, to a tiny Fenit based trawler, The Marita Ann. As the trawler made its way back to the Kerry coast the Irish Navy swooped and all on board were arrested. The skipper, a Kerry fisherman and Republican activist, Martin Ferris, who later would go on to be elected Sinn Féin TD for Kerry North, spent ten years in jail for his part in the gun running operation, but that’s only half the story…
Sinéad O’Connor is truly the woman who seems to have launched a thousand Scannals. Her unique voice rocketed her to international stardom, but it was that moment on Saturday Night Live when she tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II that the world remembers. Sinéad started performing at the Waterford Folk & Arts Club, while still a student at Newtown School. It was Joe Falvey, her Irish Teacher in Newtown, who arranged the gig for her. He was a key support to the young Sinéad and went on to organise her first demo tape. He could see that her talent, drive and uncompromising approach would not easily fit into the prescribed norms of the wider society. He said of Sinéad, “that’s (controversy) driven her creativity, one is interlinked with the other. She doesn’t put on a controversial coat and say I’m going to be controversial today – she just is, it just comes out, it’s in her nature.” Headlines and Sinéad were never far apart – and she’s one of a select group of people whose first name is enough. We’ve all come to know who they mean when the headline screams SINÉAD! Whether it was her support for a variety of political causes, her views on abortion, her advocacy for victims of abuse or her religious faith and where it lead her, her looks or even her own sexuality, Sinéad O’Connor could never be accused of pulling her punches. But for the Irish public Sinéad was still a favourite – regularly brought into everyone’s living rooms courtesy of the Late Late Show. That’s how many people who’d never have gone to her concerts got to know and love Sinéad. As Dave Fanning put it, “… to be blunt and not to be as glib as this is going to sound, Sinéad has “issues” of her own and she’s been addressing them down through the years in ways that have made us laugh, made us cringe and made us think, she’s not really doing that, now is she? And it’s so far outside the music remit that I only have the sam
"An Irish abortionist sentenced to death for murder – it was a scandal that convulsed the nation in the 1950s. Abortion may have been taboo subject but was certainly not as uncommon as we might think. The authorities of the fledgling Free State turned a blind eye to the covert, but widespread, practice of illegal abortion in Ireland during the first twenty years of Independence. In premises from Parkgate Street to Merrion Square, from leafy Rathmines to Upper Pembroke Street, a succession of chemists, doctors, electricians, and above all, qualified midwives treated ‘all sorts of cases’, as the coded advertisements of the day implied. The names Coleman, Ashe and Williams have fallen out of public memory. Not so, however, the most notorious of them all, Nurse Mamie Cadden. The emergence of a Catholic majority of professionals in Garda HQ, The Four Courts, Kings Inns, The Incorporated Law Society, the medical schools and the universities led to a crackdown in the 1940s. With the twin pillars of Catholic social conservatism, Eamon De Valera and Archbishop McQuaid, at the height of their powers, all of Dublin’s back-street abortionists were imprisoned by the mid-forties. Only one was to emerge from Mountjoy in 1950 to resume where she had left off – Nurse Mamie Cadden. Originally from Mayo and close to destitution having lost her three storey nursing home in Rathmines and her red MG Midget sports car, Mamie Cadden operated from the grotty confines of a one-room flat at No. 17 Hume Street. A succession of women continued to avail of her services. Most survived, and vanished into the night. Two were to die on her kitchen table. Mamie Cadden was famously convicted of the murder of the second of those women, Mrs. Helen O’Reilly of Kilkenny. Cadden was sentenced to be hanged in Mountjoy Jail in 1957. Scannal re-visits the story of Mamie Cadden, placing her and her activities in the context of the Ireland of her times. "
"All-Ireland Final day is the most important day of the year in the GAA calendar and many games have gone down in history as unforgettable classics which enthralled the nation. Unfortunately the 1983 Football Final between Dublin and Galway is remembered for all the wrong reasons. It was a game full of unrest and ugliness, where four players were sent off and several others were lucky not to join them. GAA fans were looking forward to the final in 1983 as both counties had a proud tradition of Gaelic football, and it was the first final since 1977 that didn’t involve Kerry. Conditions were terrible on the day of the match with the gale force wind and driving rain making it impossible for the players to play constructive football, and the physical battle was more intense than usual. The game was full of dangerous sliding tackles and heated exchanges between players were frequent. A variety of incidents resulted in three players being sent off from Dublin and one player being sent off from Galway. There were protestations about goals that shouldn’t have been allowed, players clashing in the tunnel at half time, and a fan stabbed in the heaving crowd. Dublin’s ’12 Apostles’ defended superbly against the onslaught of Galway attacks however and held out for a famous win by a margin of 2 points, but the controversy tended to overshadow the Dubs’ great achievement. The following morning’s newspapers coverage had very little to do with the actual game, but focused on the ugliness of the match and also reported on the poor supervision at exits and the terrible crushing in the Canal End and on Hill 16, where a fan was stabbed. There were reports of clashes amongst supporters after the match and of buses full of Galway fans being stoned as they left Dublin. This week’s episode of Scannal relives that infamous final of 1983 through the eyes of four players involved: Barney Rock, who commented, “If you study the match again, the first dig w
"In March 1976, the quiet and peaceful village of Drimoleague in West Cork was dramatically changed. Pickets were placed by teachers on the local national school and six other schools in the parish, which was the start of what was to become the longest running school strike in the history of the State The dispute was over the appointment of a school principal, which divided the small community down the middle. The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) claimed that the appointed teacher, Mr. Nicholas McCarthy, was ineligible as he didn’t have the full five years teaching experience required under Department of Education rules. Another unsuccessful candidate for the job was an executive member of the INTO and a local man Jimmy Collins. Central to the dispute was the Parish Priest and manager of the school, Fr John Crowley, an ex army chaplain who’d served with the UN in the Congo. The strike became extremely bitter and personalised. The newly appointed board of management of the school made it clear from the outset that they were backing Nicholas McCarthy for the job and would not contemplate any compromise or re-advertise the position. Matters went from bad to worse when parents passed the pickets, took over some of the classrooms and taught the pupils themselves. The INTO also instructed schools in the area not to take in students from the striking schools. The air was thick with accusations of harassment and intimidation, and even local businesses were boycotted. The parents took their case to the High Court and the Minister for Education was forced to provide the children with free school buses to alternative schools. Numerous settlements efforts were made but without success. The strike dragged on for 6 years, until 1982 and was eventually settled by a fudge, but at what a huge cost. The Children had been left at the side of the road for a year and a half and missed out hugely in their primary education. Division and bitterness infl
"Launched with the sort of hype specially reserved for reality TV shows Cabin Fever, RTÉ’s planned summer schedule blockbuster from 2003, hit all the right spots, and at least one that didn’t figure in the plans. With Cabin Fever, the makers created a reality programme formula guaranteed to captivate the summer audiences. Yes indeed, competing for a prize of €100,000, ten diverse landlubber contestants would shiver our timbers as they ploughed their way round Ireland on a three-mast sail ship, Cabin Fever, performing various tasks and hoping to win the votes of the audience. The least popular contestant ran the weekly gauntlet of ritual eviction from the game by walking the plank. This reality show had it all: a beautiful photogenic ship; outdoor action and on-board intrigue. It was a live show hosted from various ports round the country, full of free wheeling and action packed adventure. But then it had an unscheduled meet and greet with the rocks off Tory Island in Donegal. This was when Cabin Fever really put the ‘reality’ into Reality TV, sinking on the notorious outcrops which encircle the Gaeltacht island. Thankfully all crew and contestants made it safely to shore. The national press had a field day. Paparazzi descended on Tory Island, with the ten contestants bunking down inside. Noelle Ní Dhubhchoin’s B&B became the centre of a tabloid media stake-out. A celebrity lawyer, a counsellor and the man from the Department of the Marine all flew in by helicopter. The contestants were sent home and the programme makers endeavoured to find a replacement ship to continue the series. Within weeks, Cabin Fever 2 picked up where its predecessor had left off. It was ‘game on’ again. Few reality TV shows had overcome such difficulty, or generated such publicity. If ‘Cabin Fever’ had done well in the ratings prior to Tory, it skyrocketed after. ‘Scannal’ re-visits the story, exploring what happened from a range of perspective
On Friday 15 March 1996, as Anne & John Ryan headed home with their children from swimming in their local pool in Tallaght, little did they know they would be propelled into the centre of one of the biggest scandals in recent years. ‘Here was the classic case of a working class family from Tallaght suffering an appalling tragedy of a woman knocked down by a guy… he gets a pretty light sentence and then he’s released. Here was a really big local scandal…even the participants involved in it were quite amazed that this had come to pass.’ Barry O’Kelly The Ryans were an ordinary family but that night they were to be the victims of a young Dublin architect Philip Sheedy who’d just bought a new sports car the previous day and that Friday night, got into his new car, drunk. Witnesses to the accident at the Glenview roundabout that night described Sheedy’s speeding dark Ford Puma sports car – taking off like a rocket into the air for 60ft before landing on top of the the Ryan’s family car at the other side of the roundabout. Anne Ryan, who was driving, was killed – John and the children were badly injured. Sheedy escaped with minor injuries and was arrested & charged with dangerous driving causing death. The following year in June 1997 the case came before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court Sheedy pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison with a review after two years. That should have been the end of the matter. With Sheedy in jail, John Ryan and the family could begin to rebuild their lives. However, in Feb 1999, Philip Sheedy was sighted in Tallaght. The circumstances of his release were to cause a scandal that shook the legal and political establishment to the core. It was to lead directly to the resignation of a High Court Judge (Cyril Kelly ) & Supreme Court Judge (Hugh O’Flaherty) as well as the then Dublin Country registrar. But questions were also raised about political connections and Taoiseach Ber
Three years after his death in a car accident near Moscow, Scannal takes a look at one of Ireland's most controversial and colourful politicians, Liam Lawlor
The Late Late Show has stopped and shocked the nation many many times. Just when he was readying himself for retirement, on his second last show on 14 May 1999, Gaybo pulled the ultimate rabbit out of the hat and revealed before the nation that Charlie Haughey had had a 27 year affair with journalist Terry Keane. Nobody can deny the impact of that interview. It changed the way we view political history in Ireland. But what does it tell us about Charlie? And Terry? More importantly what does it tell us about ourselves? How was it that for over a quarter of a century one of the most controversial political figures in Ireland conducted a secret extra marital affair?
Bishop Brendan Comiskey was hailed as ‘a breath of fresh air’ when he first came to Ferns. The people of Wexford lined the streets in their thousands to welcome him. A flamboyant and charismatic cleric, he had weakness for fine wine and a taste for good food and convivial company. He was the darling of the media and his future seemed very bright when, appointed auxiliary Bishop in Dublin in 1980, he became the youngest member of the hierarchy. Though many didn’t like his ‘style’, Bishop Brendan Comiskey had shown few signs of anything other than theological orthodoxy and faithfulness to Rome – that was until he caused a sensation by clashing publicly with the Primate of all Ireland, Cardinal Cathal Daly over the issue of priestly celibacy. Ireland that never seen the like: two bishops squabbling publicly. He caused a further public sensation when, without warning, he fled his diocese to an alcoholism clinic in the US. Allegations of dubious trips to Bangkok, financial impropriety and drunken behaviour followed in his wake. There were over 100 allegations of child sex abuse in his diocese and Bishop Brendan Comiskey failed to act. The most notorious of these abusers was Fr Seán Fortune – 66 allegations of abuse were made against him by 26 boys. Despite the many complaints he received, Brendan Comiskey failed to stop him. But it was the stance he took in the parish of Monageer in 1988 that was probably Comiskey’s most symbolic betrayal of the children in his diocese. He knew that the allegations of the sexual abuse of 10 girls had been confirmed by the Health Board. But on the day of the girls’ confirmation, the bishop stood on the altar alongside the very priest who had abused the girls. The scandal split the community. He weathered the storm but the questions over his handling of sex abusing priests would not go away. It was a BBC documentary, Suing the Pope, which finally brought him down. The heart wrenching stories of abuse by
A look at the 1998 hurling season, a summer packed with recriminations and controversy.
The shooting dead of Veronica Guerin on the Naas dual carriageway on 26 June 1996 caused public outrage and revulsion. The story of her killing sent shockwaves right around the world. Her death rocked the government, the gardaí and the media. Then Taoiseach John Bruton declared it ‘an attack on democracy’. There was already a high level of public anxiety with the killing of Detective Sergeant Jerry McCabe a few weeks earlier in Adare. The floral tributes to Veronica Guerin piled up at the gates of the Dáil and the queues to sign the book of condolences grew longer. The airwaves were jammed with callers demanding that something be done. This week, Scannal looks back at the events that surrounded the murder of Veronica Guerin and the fallout. Her family and friends remember a funny, gregarious young woman who adored Charlie Haughey, she and her friends waved placards of support in front of Dáil Eireann during one of the attempts to oust him in the early eighties. They also remember a very ambitious and doggedly determined journalist . ‘She was reckless and I mean that in the nicest possible way’ -Séan Haughey TD Some feel, at times, she was naïve to the possible danger that surrounded her. Her brother Jimmy is convinced if she knew that there was a real possibility she’d end up being killed she would not have done the job she did. ‘There were articles in the newspapers which said I had pretty much blood on my hands’ – Nora Owen Nora Owen, then Minister for Justice, still feels hurt at the isolation she felt and the anger that was directed at her in the weeks following Veronica Guerin’s killing. An unprecedented Garda investigation was undertaken in the wake of her death. The Criminal Assets Bureau was set up. State protected witnesses were used for the first time. Even using the juryless special criminal court, only one person, Brian Meehan, was successfully convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison. Jimmy G
This week’s Scannal takes a look back at RTÉ’s controversial drama from the 1970’s, The Spike, and the whirlwind that surrounded it. In 1978, RTÉ launched a 10 part drama series which was destined to become front page news. It raised uncomfortable issues about inequality in the Irish education system and in Irish society in general. It also featured the first ever naked Irish woman filmed by and shown on the national broadcasting service. The series was called The Spike and it was axed by RTÉ after the fifth episode. Set in a tough post-primary co-educational public sector school in an unspecified urban working class area in the late seventies, The Spike was a new departure for RTÉ Television drama. It was to be a gritty and realistic picture of a particular layer of the Irish education system and flowing from that a wider of picture of Irish society with all its inequalities, hypocrisy and incongruities. As soon as The Spike went on air, the letters pages of the newspapers were full of negative reviews and reactions. By episode five, The Spike had gone too far. The decision was taken by RTÉ’s Director General, Olivia Maloney, to withdraw it. The final episode aired dealt with adult evening classes and featured an art class involving a nude model. Although tastefully shot, the producer’s brave decision to show the nude model sounded the death knell for the series. Once actress Madelyn Erskine cast off her clothes, The Spike was doomed. In the ensuing days, The Spike and RTÉ were roundly condemned by the press, while RTÉ was inundated with irate letters and phone calls from angry viewers. County Councils up and down the country passed motions calling for the axing of The Spike, saying it was vulgar and suggestive and a slur on teachers and the education system. JB Murray, head of the League of Decency and a staunch campaigner against The Spike from the outset, suffered a heart attack while phoning the papers to complain about the nude sce
Today it would seem unthinkable but in the early 70s IRA prisoners broke out of jail not once but twice! A new coalition government came into power in early 1973, with a Fine Gael, law and order Taoiseach – Liam Cosgrave promising to take a no-nonsense approach to subversives. But on 31st October 1973 he was in for a shock. Three IRA men succeeded in pulling off a dramatic helicopter escape from Mountjoy Jail. At 3.30pm in afternoon, to the astonishment of prison officers, and the cheers of other prisoners, a helicopter scooped up three high-ranking members of the IRA: Seamus Twomey, J.B O’Hagan and Kevin Mallon, in the middle of a football game taking place in the prison yard. The chopper lifted off with the fugitives to the farcical shouts of prison guards attempting to foil the escape by shouting for the gates to be shut! The embarrassed Cosgrave Government reacted to the fiasco, ordering nationwide searches and the transfer of remaining republican prisoners from Mountjoy and the Curragh to Portlaoise prison After weeks on the run – Kevin Mallon was the first of the escapees recaptured at a GAA Dance in the Montague Hotel in Co. Laois. A republican comrade, Marion Coyle, was charged with attempting to shoot Gardaí arresting Mallon, but she was acquitted due to lack of identification. The government were to be even further embarrassed in January 1974 when a close associate of Mallon’s, Eddie Gallagher, along with Dr. Rose Dugdale hijacked another helicopter in Donegal to bomb the RUC station in Strabane from the air. The milk-churn bombs never exploded. Dugdale got away and went on to take part in the theft of the Beit paintings from Russborough House in Wicklow after which she was arrested and jailed. Gallagher too was subsequently jailed but not for long as, within 10 months of the Mountjoy escape in August 1974, 19 Republican prisoners blasted their way out of Portlaoise prison using old fashioned gelignite. Two of the 19 escapees were K
This week’s Scannal revisits the high-profile murder of French documentary filmmaker, Sophie Toscan du Plantier, on the Mizen peninsula in West Cork in 1996. There hadn’t been a murder on the Mizen peninsula in West Cork for a hundred years according to locals, but December 23rd 1996 changed all that. The brutal slaying of the well respected French documentary filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier on Christmas Eve that year cast a pall over the seasonal festivities, not only in the immediate area of Goleen and Schull, but right across the country. To this day nobody has ever been charged or convicted for this horrific crime. Sophie’s family learned of her killing from reports in the french media that night but it was to be over 30 hours before her body was examined and removed from the scene of the crime. In the early days media speculation about the murder was rife, but the Gardaí did not seem to have any obvious suspect. A local newspaper-stringer, Iain Bailey, who’d reported on the crime, was to become the focus of the enquiry – arrested twice he gave many media interviews acknowledging that he was a suspect but denying he had anything to do with the murder and he was never charged. Despite huge interest in the case in France, as months lead to years it seemed no closer to being solved. Bailey took a libel case against eight newspapers which attracted such huge interest that the presiding circuit court judge had to remind those in court that it was not a murder trial but rather a civil libel case. However the case did lead to a massive amount of testimony coming into the public domain about Bailey and the crime for the first time. Bailey brought actions aginst eight newspapers for libel – he won two of these cases and was awarded €8,000 in damages. In 2008 – after seeking justice for over 11 years – the Irish Authorities have finally agreed to send the files to their counterparts in France. Sophie’s body has been exhumed and French
This week Scannal delves into the story of National Irish Bank. Normally when you think of bank robbery, it’s the bank that’s being robbed, but the scandal of the National Irish bank story was that it was the bank that was caught stealing from its own customers. When the National Irish Bank story broke in January 1998 it changed the course of Irish banking forever. It was a scandal that saw the fourth largest bank in Ireland brought to its knees thanks to a courageous whistleblower. A scandal where two prominent journalists put their reputations on the line for what they believed to be the truth. A scandal that saw precedents set by the highest court in the land and a scandal that saw a well known TD ousted and shamed for her part in the proceedings. The story began with a phone call to RTÉ’s Chief News correspondent Charlie Bird. Charlie Bird worked on the story with RTÉ economics expert, George Lee. The first report was broadcast on the January 23rd, 1998. This first report dealt with tax evasion, specifically, the fact that the bank was helping its customers evade tax by availing of an offshore investment scheme on the Isle of Man. After the first broadcast, National Irish Bank were concerned about other confidential information being revealed and went to the High Court to stop RTÉ reporting any further reports using internal bank documents. The case went to the Supreme Court and in a landmark ruling, the court found in favour of RTÉ and on the March 25th, 1998 the second story about the bank was broadcast by RTÉ’s Six One News. An emergency cabinet meeting was called and the public wanted answers fast. The then Tánaiste, Mary Harney, ordered an inquiry and for Charlie Bird and George Lee, it seemed like a good end to their story. There was however, to be another twist in the tale. Beverley Flynn TD had worked in National Irish Bank and during the course of their investigations Charlie Bird and George Lee were told that she had encourage
On April 17th, 2002 an Irish political colossus fell upon his sword. The man in question was Bobby Molloy. Molloy had been a TD in Galway West for the previous 37 years, during which time he had represented two political parties and served in a variety of government positions. He resigned from his position as Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal because of the perception that he had attempted to interfere in a criminal case which was before the courts. The case in question was the serial rape of Barbara Naughton by her father, Patrick Naughton, over a period a nine years. This crime, which occurred in the Connemara townland of Camus, was of a particularly horrific nature. Patrick Naughton was tried between the October 22nd and 31st, 2001, and was found guilty. While Naughton was awaiting sentence, an official in Bobby Molloy’s office made a phone call to Judge Philip O’Sullivan enquiring about correspondence from Naughton’s sister. The judge also received a call from the dept. of Justice asking whether he’d take a call at home from Molloy later in the evening. Judge O’Sullivan said he wouldn’t, and terminated the phone call. In court the Judge drew attention to the phone calls and all hell broke loose. Molloy announced his resignation as Minister and announced his decision not to fight the next election. It was an ignominious end to an otherwise respectable political career. However, as time passed, the level of Mr Molloy’s involvement in the case became clearer. He had written repeated letters to the Minister of Justice asking for updates on unspecified requests from the defendant’s sister in relation to the case. There followed an exchange of fifteen letters between Ministers Molloy and O’Donoghue in which the Minister for Justice had finally to point out that he could have no role in a case which was being tried by the independent judiciary. And what of the victim who found herself in the eye of this political storm? What were h
In January 2013, the Horse Meat Scandal initially shocked and then convulsed the nation with endless horse burger jokes, after the Food Safety Authority of Ireland revealed that they'd discovered Horse DNA in products purporting to be beef.
On the 19th of November 1984 at a press conference in 10 Downing Street held at the conclusion of the Anglo-Irish Summit, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dismissed the three potential solutions to the conflict in Northern Ireland that were outlined in the New Ireland Forum Report.
Padraig O'Driscoll recounts how members of a gang of cocaine smugglers almost drowned off the cliffs of West Cork in July 2007. It was one of the biggest busts in Irish and European history, leading to an investigation that would span three continents and the longest sentences ever handed down for drugs trafficking by an Irish court.
Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh remembers the public fallout that occurred when theatre producer Alan Simpson was arrested by the Gardaí after he refused to cancel Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo at the first Dublin International Theatre Festival in May 1957 - a production that had gained notoriety due to one particular scene. The reporter asks whether the government of the time was to a greater extent influenced by religious morals and considers the legacy of the subsequent legal battle.
Episode one of the new series of Scannal looks back at the two word phrase that brought about a constitutional crisis and led to the resignation of a President of Ireland, a phrase that would live in political infamy for decades. The 18th of October 1976 was like any other day in the Minister for Defence’s diary. He was due to perform a routine opening of an army facility, in this case a cookhouse in Columb Barracks, Mullingar. But when Minister Paddy Donegan stood up to address the varied ranks of army personnel, his speech kicked off a constitutional crisis. He declared, to the massed army ranks that their Supreme Commander and President of Ireland, Cearbhall Dálaigh, was a “Thundering disgrace!” This was in response to President Ó Dálaigh referring the Coalition Government’s Emergency Powers Bill to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality. The bill proposed extending the period of time in which Gardaí could detain and interrogate certain suspects without charge from two days to seven days. Even in the context of the ongoing Troubles and the recent assassination of the British Ambassador to Ireland, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, this seemed heavy-handed. As it turned out, the Supreme Court found no constitutional objection to the bill and President Ó Dálaigh duly signed it into law. But Minister for Defence, Paddy Donegan, whose own pub had been bombed twice, insisted on having his say at the official opening of the army cookhouse in Mullingar. As the words “thundering disgrace” echoed through the media, all hell broke loose. The Minister offered to resign, but then Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave refused to accept his resignation. Four days later, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh became the first President of Ireland to resign from office. For President Ó Dálaigh, it was an inglorious end to a stellar career. From journalist to Ireland’s youngest Attorney General, and from Chief Justice in Ireland to the European Court of Justice in Luxembou
In recent years miscarriages of justice have captivated international fascination with the likes of podcast “The Serial”and the Netflix hit “Making a Murderer”. Here in Ireland we are no strangers to wrongful convictions. But the case that gave rise to the first ever posthumous Presidential pardon is extraordinarily shocking and horrific. SCANNAL recalls the 1940 murder of Moll McCarthy in Marlhill, New Inn, Co. Tipperary. The mother of six children was brutally killed with a shotgun blast to her neck. Forensic reports indicate her body was then dressed and moved to where she was found in a field, where a second shot blasted away her face almost entirely. Her neighbour Harry Gleeson was charged, tried, convicted, lost all his appeals, was refused any clemency and then hanged – all in the space of 5 months. In 2015 – 75 years later – The Irish State granted Harry Gleeson a posthumous pardon, finally admitting a terrible miscarriage of justice had taken place to an innocent man that our justice system had wrongly made into a murderer. The Presidential pardon leaves Harry Gleeson an innocent man – hanged in the wrong. But it also leaves so many questions unanswered. If Harry didn’t, then who did murder Moll McCarthy? If Harry Gleeson was innocent, how did this all happen? And why did it take so long to set to right? Some answers lie in the fact that the murder of Moll McCarthy is inextricably linked with powerful forces in our society – sex, religion, politics and how we deal with outsiders; qualities that make for tightly knit communities but also have a very dark side.
February 10th 1984 William Ryan executive chef at Shannon Airport and his wife celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with a party at Bunratty Folk Park in Co Clare. The night ended in tragedy with a 23-year-old banqueting manager Patrick Nugent fatally injured. What happened in Bunratty that night became the focus of national debate and has still never been satisfactorily explained.
Scannal revisits the shooting of widowed mother Annie Gillespie and her only daughter Anne by the daughter’s ex-boyfriend, John Gallagher in Sligo General Hospital’s car-park. Anne Gillespie from Ballybofey had ended her three year relationship with Lifford man John Gallagher. Unhappy with her decision, Gallagher’s behaviour became increasingly erratic in the weeks leading up to her death. Anne and Annie were in fear for their safety and Anne had confided in a teacher “If I don’t have police protection by this time next week you’ll be singing at my funeral.” These words would prove chilling and prophetic.
Scannal looks back at events leading up to the Boomtown Rats concert in Leixlip Castle in 1980. Why was the original gig really cancelled and what did the whole episode say about Ireland in 1980.
In the early hours of the 8th January 1979 a massive explosion rocked Bantry Bay and a lethal firestorm engulfed the French oil tanker, “Betelgeuse”, which was berthed at Whiddy Island oil terminal. Fifty people died in the inferno but only twenty seven bodies were ever recovered. In fact not one person aboard the ship nor any of the Gulf employees on the terminal jetty that night was saved. A Tribunal of Inquiry was established under High Court judge, Declan Costello. The Tribunal laid the blame for the disaster squarely on the shoulders of Total and Gulf Oil, the owners of the tanker and the oil terminal respectively. Some witnesses who gave evidence at the Tribunal were found to have lied. However the Tribunal was not able to establish in detail what transpired on the ship and jetty on that horrific night.
Tonight’s episode of SCANNAL looks back at the most famous horse-racing based lottery in the world which exploded with panache and prestige onto the stage of the Mansion House in 1930. Wall Street had crashed but the world’s eyes were on Dublin where two blind boys, with uniformed nurses and a Garda commissioner present, pulled tickets from a drum. But lurking beneath the wholesome scenes of pageantry and elaborate draws, there was something quite different. There was worldwide ticket smuggling, law enforcement problems, tickets sold abroad that never made it back to Ireland and tickets that never even made it into the drum. When the Sweepstakes ceased operations in 1987, their loyal and diligent work force of mostly women were left with tiny redundancy payments and weren’t properly compensated until 2000.
The documentary begins with a look back at the life, death and legacy of Martin Cahill - aka the General - one of Ireland's most notorious criminals and crime bosses.
The story of the infamous fight between the Mayo and Meath players at Croke Park during the 1996 All-Ireland Final.
The July 1975 attack on the popular cabaret act the Miami Showband, in which three members - Fran O'Toole, Brian McCoy and Tony Geraghty - were shot dead.