An inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of James O’Neill, whose body was found in the Phoenix Park, Dublin in November 2023, but whose family was not informed of his death until December 2024, has been adjourned for six months.
The adjournment was granted by Dublin District Coroner Myra Cullinane following a request from a representative of Fiosrú, the Garda Ombudsman, which is continuing to investigate the actions of gardaí in the case.
The body of O’Neill, from Belfast, was found in a wooded area of the park. There was a backpack nearby which contained a CV carrying his name and a Dublin address.
Although his name appeared on an initial postmortem report, O’Neill’s remains were stored in the city morgue as seemingly unidentified for more than a year. A forensic anthropologist then examined his clothing and found nine forms of identification in his pockets.
Investigating gardaí had previously discounted the name on the CV as a false ID. A public appeal was never issued by the force, nor were details about the discovery of a body in the Phoenix Park circulated to the media.
O’Neill’s parents, Ann and Paul O’Neill, along with their solicitor, Pádraig Ó Muirigh, followed the hearing via video-link.
The family previously hired an independent pathologist, former state pathologist of Northern Ireland Prof Jack Crane, to carry out his own report. He raised a number of issues with the initial postmortem.
As Fiosrú is solely concerned with matters related to An Garda Síochána, the O’Neills previously wrote to the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, requesting his assistance in addressing what they say are their deep concerns regarding the processes that led to their son’s body being stored in a morgue for 13 months without them knowing he had died.
Cullinane on Wednesday sympathised with the O’Neill family. “I understand it’s very stressful. You’ve been through a lot. I offer my deepest condolences to you,” she said.
The coroner set March 10th next as the date for his inquest.