SPECULATION grew in Cork yesterday that body parts found on Friday last in a remote wooded area on the city's outskirts may be those of Mr Patrick O'Driscoll (32), one of three men who disappeared two years ago.
The other missing men are Mr Cathal O'Brien (23), of Kilmore, Co Wexford, and Mr Kevin Ball (42), an Englishman who had been living in Wales before coming to Cork. Mr O'Brien and Mr Ball disappeared in April, 1994. Mr O'Driscoll was last seen alive in December of that year.
The three shared a flat at 9 Wellington Terrace in Cork at various times and knew each other.
The Mallow based pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, examined the body parts at the weekend. It is understood they included a skull which was found in a plastic bag, and decomposing flesh, which was in a shallow mound. The results of the post mortem examination will not be available for some time.
The discovery was made at 4.30 p.m. on Friday by a man walking his dog in the Lotabeg Woods on the eastern side of the city. Gardai were called and sealed off the area.
A file is still open on a fourth man, Mr Frank "Blackie" McCarthy, who lived close to the area now being searched, and who disappeared in 1993.
On Saturday afternoon, before the body parts were removed for examination, Canon Donal Linehan performed the last rites.
He said later he had no information as to the identity of the victim in the woods.
Canon Linehan said he had been asked by gardai to come because they wished that the remains be given Christian rites. "The whole thing is so sad. I have never encountered anything like it before. It is so sad for a number of families. A lot of people are suffering. It is important that the dead be recognised and honoured and given a Christian burial, and that families start the healing process. After that we can only leave judgment for what happened to God," Canon Linehan said.
Mrs Jean Bailey, a sister of Mr O'Driscoll, went to the scene at the weekend. She said her family would be greatly relieved if the remains were those of her brother. Mrs Bailey, who has acted as spokeswoman for the O'Driscoll family, has claimed consistently that her brother lost his life violently and that he was in possession of some "terrible secret."
Last year she received a threatening telephone call to her home at Lagan Grove in Mayfield, but went public about it and said she would not be intimidated. The male caller threatened her life, she said. She added: "If the remains are those of Patrick, it would finally put an end to two years of torture." Last year, the family consulted a psychic, who said Patrick's body was lying in a shallow grave in a wooded area.
In Wexford, Mr Seamus O'Brien, father of Cathal, said news of the discovery might offer some hope to the families of the missing men. "I hope that the discovery of this body is something that will lead to the resolution of the purgatory we have been in for the last two years."
According to Garda sources, the search of the site, which will be painstaking, could take up to a week. The Garda team involved in the dig includes forensic, ballistic, mapping and fingerprint experts.
On May 15th last year, a Garda team excavated a site behind St Joseph's Park, Mayfield, in connection with the missing men, but found nothing. On May 24th last year gardai returned to a field in the Lota area, not far from the present search site, which they had searched earlier with special equipment. It is understood evidence was found to suggest human remains had been moved. There were reports locally at the time of men digging in the field.
Throughout May of last year, convinced that they were looking in the right area, gardai combed the woods in the Lota/Lotabeg and Glanmire parts of the city. Mr O'Driscoll, who occasionally slept rough, was known to have camped out in these areas. During one of the searches, a hideout was found which was described as a makeshift bunker, but there was nothing to link it to the missing men.
In the current search, an area of more than 100 square yards has been sealed off by gardai and the public is not allowed access as the search continues. The area is used by walkers and runs parallel to the Glanmire dual carriageway, heading east out of the city.
Last evening gardai continued to maintain close security near the search area.
Garda sources said there was a strong possibility that the remains were those of Mr O'Driscoll, but this will not be confirmed until DNA testing and other forensic examinations are complete. Mr O'Driscoll had a steel plate in his skull which could make identification easier if the remains are his.
Dr Bolster's preliminary examination of the body parts has confirmed that they are those of a male.