'We are just victims here': Filipino families flee Ballymena home
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Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘I just knew I was meant to do it,': Builder restores home destroyed by Ballyfermot arson attack for free
A Dublin family whose home was severely damaged in an arson attack three months ago have moved back into their house following the help of a local builder. Pat Curran had fallen asleep on his couch in the early hours of May 21st when his home on Landen Road in Ballyfermot was subject to a firebomb attack, in what gardaí said was a case of mistaken identity . His wife Breda and their son Luke (20) were asleep upstairs. The family escaped the fire, but their pet dog Zach died in the blaze. Mr Curran and his wife had no house insurance. The Currans' home following the May attack. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times Breda Curran looks at the damage to her home after the arson attack. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times Builder Mark O'Neill (42) from Clondalkin oversaw the complete house renovation, relying on the help of subcontractors and suppliers. READ MORE [ 'Waking up in hell': Family subject to mistaken Dublin arson attack told 'it wasn't meant for youse' Opens in new window ] Mr O'Neill waived all costs, with such works estimated to be in the region of between €170,000 and €200,000, aided only by a GoFundMe pagethat raised more than €55,000. Pat Curran and his wife Breda in the newly rebuilt home with builder and plasterer Mark O'Neill. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times The house had to be rewired, along with new plumbing, new joists, plastering and insulation, roof repairs and new windows and doors. Mr O'Neill said he was 'devastated' when he heard what happened to the family and decided to take on the job after meeting them. 'I just knew I was meant to do it,' he said. 'I get so much back from jobs like this. It's a different kind of payback seeing people being able to get back into their home. 'You could not meet a nicer family. You're asking yourself how could this happen to such a nice family? But I also believe the good always outweighs the bad and I'm blessed with my suppliers and people working with me over the years.' Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times Mr O'Neill has been working in construction since he was 15 and has helped others refurbish their homes following fires. He said the loss of his mother, sister and brother over recent years are part of the reason he has decided to take on such projects when he can. The family received the keys to their home on Saturday, describing the generosity of Mr O'Neill and others as 'a miracle'. 'For me, Mark stepped down from heaven,' Ms Curran said. 'I've never met anybody like that. I walked out of here in May full of soot and said I can't go in there any more because I wasn't getting anywhere. I never came here until last Saturday. They just said 'stay away, don't come back'. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times 'I couldn't believe it. It was the goodness of Mark, family, friends, neighbours, the GoFundMe, because there was nothing out there in terms of grants. I did try, I emailed everyone but there was just nothing there. 'We were hopeless and desolate for the first week and a half after it happened. We were saying 'what are we going to do?'' Ms Curran, who is a social care worker, added that it 'will take a while' to get used to being in the house again. 'It's just at night time, we're sleeping with the windows open because it's too warm and you might hear something on the road, a motorbike flying by,' she said. 'I'm probably a little bit on high alert but that should go. I know that's your brain just trying to protect your body. I'll get through it.' Mr Curran, an artist originally from Dolphin's Barn, added that walking back into his home again was 'nothing short of miraculous'. 'That's the way I feel about it. Basically we have the newest house on Landen Road,' he said. 'What's shone through all of this is the goodness of people. It makes me want to be a better person going forward ... I'm still a bit up and down. In all honesty, I think counselling is down the road for all of us. It was a near-death experience for the three of us. It shattered my confidence and made me more weary of people and danger. Mark deserves all the recognition he could get.' Two boys aged 14 and 15 and a man in his 20s have been charged in connection with the attack.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
AIB gives Pearse Doherty an open goal for criticism
It's more than 15 years since the tracker mortgage scandal first came to light, and six years since the Central Bank of Ireland published its final report on the matter. Ireland's banks have collectively paid fines worth €278 million, and millions more in compensation. Thousands of wronged customers have received payments. It's fair then, to think that the banks would be acutely aware of the need to be whiter than white, as it were, when it came to how they run their mortgage businesses. Given that, the Business Post report that AIB is to contact 55,000 customers in the coming weeks having received complaints about the pace at which it is passing through rate reductions imposed by the ECB is notable. READ MORE Given the easy political points available to be scored, it was no surprise that Sinn Féin 's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty came out on Monday demanding the Central Bank investigate AIB over the matter. [ Leaving it late to raise concern about AIB not offering a tracker mortgage Opens in new window ] 'We know that banks are making eye-watering profits and paying almost no tax. A lot of that is from squeezing homeowners and short-changing savers,' he said on Monday. 'AIB is a repeat offender, and we need to see a zero-tolerance approach from the Central Bank. The Central Bank needs to be on the side of the customer, not the banks,' he added. Doherty's outrage against the banks is not new, but it's rare for any politician to lose a political point by having a go at bankers, especially in the two decades since they crashed the economy. [ Explainer: Where does AIB fine leave wider tracker mortgage issue? Opens in new window ] For AIB's part, problems such as this must be infuriating. No sooner is the bank back in private hands and the way open to increase pay, than problems such as this emerge. The caricature of nasty bankers making millions in profits at the expense of the little people is an easy one to draw. Justified or not, that is the perception of the public at large. At a time when AIB is making an annual profit of more than €2 billion, the last thing it needs to do is appear to confirm the worst of the banker stereotype.
Irish Times
14 hours ago
- Irish Times
Gardaí take samples to try and identify ‘alien DNA' found on Sophie Toscan du Plantier's boot
A Garda cold case team reviewing the investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier (39) have begun taking DNA samples from retired gardaí and others to try to identify unknown DNA found on one of murdered woman's boots. Officers from the Garda Serious Crime Review team have drawn up a list of approximately 12 people who could have come in contact with Ms Toscan du Plantier's body following its discovery by neighbour Shirley Foster at her home at Toormore, near Schull, Co Cork, on December 23rd, 1996. Ms Foster alerted her partner, the late Alfie Lyons, and he notified gardaí and Sgt Gerard Prendeville and the late Garda Billy Byrne proceeded to the scene and cordoned off the area pending the arrival of colleagues from Garda District HQ in Bantry. [ 'We await with interest': Family of Sophie Toscan du Plantier supportive of fresh DNA tests in murder inquiry Opens in new window ] Garda technical experts took swab samples from Ms Toscan du Plantier's body and clothing as well as from a rock and concrete block used to bludgeon her to death, but forensic scientists were unable to find any DNA on the exhibits other than Ms Toscan du Plantier's own DNA. READ MORE But in October 2011, a team of French forensic scientists from the Institute de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale came to Ireland as part of a police team dispatched by investigating magistrate, Judge Patrick Gachon to examine the case. The French scientists were given access to the exhibits including the clothing Ms Toscan du Plantier was wearing on the night of her murder which included a short cotton top, long-John style underpants, boot-like shoes with socks sewn in the top and a blue dressing gown. The French police did not disclose whether they found anything in their forensic examination but in May 2018, chief suspect in the case, English journalist Ian Bailey revealed the French scientists had found what they described as 'alien DNA' on one of the victim's boots. [ Sophie Toscan du Plantier: Gardaí awaiting results of tests using advanced DNA collection Opens in new window ] Mr Bailey made the discovery that the French scientists had found the 'alien DNA' around some lace eyelets in one of the boots when he and his lawyers were given access to the French file when the French authorities decided to charge him with the voluntary homicide. Mr Bailey repeatedly denied any involvement in the killing and on May 8th, 2018, he told The Opinion Line on Cork's 96FM that 'my hope, my prayer if you will, is that the identity of the real murderer is revealed' before disclosing what he had found in the French file. 'I got all the forensic details. There were over 100 different blood samples collected at the scene – the vast majority of these were from Ms du Plantier (but) there was, apparently, according to the file, what was known as alien DNA – not her DNA. 'Quite clearly that did not match my DNA because I had given samples (to gardaí on New Year's Eve 1996) and they could check it against it,' said Mr Bailey, adding that he was astounded by the revelation that French had found DNA that the gardaí had missed. But now the Garda Serious Crime Review Team have begun gathering DNA samples from retired members of the force who served as either scenes-of-crime examiners or exhibits officers or were present at Ms Toscan du Plantier's postmortem on December 24th, 1996. In cases where the officers are deceased, they have made contact with family members to obtain samples while they have also made contact with the family of the late State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison to obtain a sample as they try to identify the alien DNA. 'We don't know where this DNA came from but we are going through the file rigorously, so we have started with the more obvious possible sources, those who were in contact with Ms Toscan du Plantier's body, gardaí, the pathologist, mortuary staff in a bid to identify it. 'The team are currently about halfway through the process in terms of the people they want to test so they will see what that yields but if they don't get a match, then they will review where they will go in terms of broadening out their inquiries,' said an informed source.
