*The late Patrick Nugent.
APPROACHING THE fortieth anniversary of Patrick Nugent’s death, his brothers are hopeful that a new national appeal may prompt persons with information to come forward so that they can put the tragedy behind them “once and for all”.
While working as a banqueting manager at Bunratty Castle, Patrick was found dead in the Folk Park near the popular tourist attraction on 11th February 1984.
The late William Ryan, a long-time chef at Shannon Airport who was celebrating his wedding anniversary that night, was charged with Mr Nugent’s manslaughter but was acquitted in 1985. Mr Ryan gave three different statements to Gardaí about what happened on the night.
On the night that Sixmilebridge native Patrick suffered fatal injuries, two off-duty Gardaí were at the party.
Following the conclusion of the Clyne Report in October 2020, a 111 page inquiry completed by retired judge Patrick Clyne was eventually handed to the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee (FG) in November 2021, this led to the commencement of a cold case investigation which continues.
Garda Dave Finnerty appeared on RTÉ’s Crimecall on Monday night discussing the case, as part of the ongoing investigation. Gardaí said they believe that the answers to what happened to Patrick lie within the local community and those who attended the event that night. They are appealing to anyone who was at the event or has any information that could assist the investigation to come forward. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crimecall on 1800 40 50 60 or Ennis Garda Station on +353 65 6848100.
Speaking to The Clare Echo on Tuesday, Patrick’s brothers Martin and John were hopeful this could finally be what is needed to end their four decade wait for answers. “We’d be hopeful that somebody might come forward having watched it, someone that was there on the night to add to their statement and throw some new light on the investigation,” Martin stated.
John maintained it would be the end of 2024 at least before the new investigation would come to a conclusion. “There was three individuals at the centre of it, it boils down to them, there’s no one outside of the Folk Park, nobody was passing on the road to see it, what happened in there is with the three individuals, there was two off-duty Gardaí and Ms O’Connor, it’s between the three of them, they are not saying anything”.
Both brothers have met with the lead investigator of the cold case team on two occasions. “They seem to be doing everything in a professional manner this time,” Martin observed.
Agreement was voiced by John that the current team looking into the case are tackling it in a different light. “When it happened first we never met the Gardaí, we didn’t know what was going on and never met with the Gardaí, there was enough going on and we thought it would take its course, they are different now. One thing they (Gardaí) said a month or two ago was things were different then”.
He added, “Dave Finnerty was asked how he could get answers after 40 years, it is harder to get them 40 years on and we wish them well on their endeavours, they haven’t an easy job ahead of them. It should have been properly investigated when it happened but I don’t think that happened so that is why we’re here today”.
Now approaching forty years since Patrick’s death, the brothers find it hard to comprehend that they still have no answers. “His anniversary comes around every year, it is hard to believe we’re here 40 years later trying to figure out, we’re no wiser today 40 years after investigation than we were after the criminal trial and inquest. You have to get on with it, it comes around every year and hopefully this time once and for all they can uncover what happened,” Martin commented. He continued, “We’re hopeful that this current investigation which seems to be very thorough from what we know that it can shed some light on what happened and put this behind once and for all”.
“Forty years is a long time, we’re two weeks off forty, it is going to run to forty one definitely,” John said. “I don’t like to be talking about it to be honest, you often wonder are we doing the right thing, usually you let sleeping dogs lie but we have to deal with it. We are where we are, hopefully after this year or the investigation it will be the end of it”.
Doing their bit to highlight Patrick’s death in the media over the past four decades in order to try get closure and new information has not been easy. “The fortieth anniversary was going to generate some publicity, there has been times when we’ve tried to keep it in the media to keep it highlighted but that was never going to tell us what happened, the only means is to get a major investigation up and running which has been up and running for 18 months,” Martin said.
