Scannal

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