Why did Gardai destroy possible burial site of Irelands longest missing child?

https://www.facebook.com/events/1726597707580640/1726924314214646/?notif_t=like&notif_id=1468074838726585
Peaceful March in Ballyshannon next week to the Garda station for a short silent vigil.. non political and not organised by me but i will be there .. please share on your social media sites and attend if possible

oranbhoy67 wrote: »

yep they are far from lazy , they are very, very active on twitter!

one replied to me

"meh , who even said she was murdered?"

another who calls himself a campaigner for victims rights & is also a journalist Tweeted something along the lines of

" its funny to see people changing their avatars to Mary Boyle who previously didnt have any problem with people getting murdered and buried in a ditch "

he would rather have a dig at shinners than do anything to expose this case

Actually, I didn't say: ""meh , who even said she was murdered?" And I didn't reply to you, either. You blocked me rather than listen to my explanation, which is your right. But, for the sake of clarity, here is the relevant conversation:


"john burns ‏@JohnBurnsST Apr 30
Sunday Times News: Fianna Fail declines to to say whether a man accused of murdering Mary Boyle was a member of the party, by @marktigheST

Michael O'Toole ‏@mickthehack Apr 30
@JohnBurnsST @marktigheST Accused? Come on, lads. Nobody has been accused of anything. Suspect, perhaps.


john burns ‏@JohnBurnsST Apr 30
@mickthehack @marktigheST not accused in the formal, legal sense, but in the every-day sense of the word

Michael O'TooleVerified account
‏@mickthehack
@JohnBurnsST @marktigheST Meh. By whom? And murder? Is there evidence?"


This was an exchange between one journalist and another. I was picking up on John using the word "accused" when no-one has been. Also, as should really be clear, the "meh" was a reference to John's reply. I found his reply weak. You weren't even mentioned, so I really don't know where you got the idea that I was replying to you. And, in fairness, it was a journalist calling out another journalist on the use of the word murder.

Michael O Toole wrote: »

Actually, I didn't say: ""meh , who even said she was murdered?" And I didn't reply to you, either. You blocked me rather than listen to my explanation, which is your right. But, for the sake of clarity, here is the relevant conversation:


"john burns ‏@JohnBurnsST Apr 30
Sunday Times News: Fianna Fail declines to to say whether a man accused of murdering Mary Boyle was a member of the party, by @marktigheST

Michael O'Toole ‏@mickthehack Apr 30
@JohnBurnsST @marktigheST Accused? Come on, lads. Nobody has been accused of anything. Suspect, perhaps.


john burns ‏@JohnBurnsST Apr 30
@mickthehack @marktigheST not accused in the formal, legal sense, but in the every-day sense of the word

Michael O'TooleVerified account
‏@mickthehack
@JohnBurnsST @marktigheST Meh. By whom? And murder? Is there evidence?"


This was an exchange between one journalist and another. I was picking up on John using the word "accused" when no-one has been. Also, as should really be clear, the "meh" was a reference to John's reply. I found his reply weak. You weren't even mentioned, so I really don't know where you got the idea that I was replying to you. And, in fairness, it was a journalist calling out another journalist on the use of the word murder.

This was from my first week on twitter and I had so called Journalist Donal O Keefe trying to get me to say on twitter who the murder suspect was and calling all supporters of Marys case "provo supporting loons" etc , there was Nicola Tallant Arguing that there was still investigative journalism going on contrary to Roy Greenslades article in the Guardian asking why the mainstream in Ireland where by and large ignoring the case - she tried to prove that they werent ignoring the case by posting a link to a 5-year-old article

so in the context of all that i saw your comment , twitter isnt the easiest site to work your way around when new to it ..so I could very well have took your comment out of context and if I did I apologise but it was my gut reaction to seeing someone from the Irish Media commenting "Meh, who even said she was murdered?" Meh to me equals "who gives a sh1t"

Maybe if you spent less time scouring forums and more time out trying to do some journalism and investigating why the almost complete silence around the case? then maybe we wouldn't be debating this on here, but meh what do i know

Satriale wrote: »

Howdy Mick, i see you had the exclusive picture of Brian Macmahon on the Irish Daily Star that was discussed in the documentary. Do ye still think he is a suspect? Are ye going to run any more stories on the case in light of the publicity it's getting online?
IMHO few mainstream reporters could do with asking some questions and rattling some cages.

I have been away on leave, so haven't had the chance to watch the doc. I messaged Gemma when I saw the trailer at the end of April to say I thought it was hugely compelling and wanted to do a story on it, but she didn't reply.
Someone mentioned the McMahon angle in the doc to me on Twitter; he seemed to say the allegation was we were somehow fed the fella. Is that accurate?

jenny smith wrote: »

thats all the 'journalism' you see in ireland. what some air head celebrity did

Do you not think it's important for the world to know if Kim got a manicure no????????

Satriale wrote: »

That was what i took from it (not necessarily agreeing with that but i doubt it's unheard of either). There's probably nothing new in it that you havent heard, but do watch it and contact her again. I think it needs more coverage on newspaper.

If that is the claim, it's just bollox. All Gemma had to do was contact me and ask me what happened and I would have told her. I'm not the hardest person to find.

This is what happened: I was in Mullingar for the press briefing when he was arrested. I knew that he was held under certain legislation that meant he had to be released after 24 hours. Back in Dublin the next day we were discussing what to do and it was suggested that one of us should go back and confront him if, or when, he was released back into the custody of the prison service. I said that the cops would probably drive him out and we wouldn't get near him, so we just sent a photographer instead. He waited there all day as we had no idea if he was getting out. Then a car was driven out and he got one frame. He had no idea if it was McMahon as we didn't know he had been released. It was only when the cops said the man they had in custody had been released that we figured it was him. We then spent several hours trying to contact people back out west who could ID him. Eventually we got people who knew him form way back. No conspiracy.

Michael O Toole wrote: »

If that is the claim, it's just bollox. All Gemma had to do was contact me and ask me what happened and I would have told her. I'm not the hardest person to find.

This is what happened: I was in Mullingar for the press briefing when he was arrested. I knew that he was held under certain legislation that meant he had to be released after 24 hours. Back in Dublin the next day we were discussing what to do and it was suggested that one of us should go back and confront him if, or when, he was released back into the custody of the prison service. I said that the cops would probably drive him out and we wouldn't get near him, so we just sent a photographer instead. He waited there all day as we had no idea if he was getting out. Then a car was driven out and he got one frame. He had no idea if it was McMahon as we didn't know he had been released. It was only when the cops said the man they had in custody had been released that we figured it was him. We then spent several hours trying to contact people back out west who could ID him. Eventually we got people who knew him form way back. No conspiracy.

I misunderstood your original question , what you have said here sounds true

Michael O Toole wrote: »

No, I meant that it was claimed to me, in essence, that McMahon was offered up to us by the cops when he was in custody. It's the exact opposite of what happened, but anyway.

yeah i understand that now
What is the general consensus now amongst journalists? is there a wilingness yet to finally cover this story?
id hate to think that some dont want to touch the story "because its Gemma's" for want of a better way of phrasing it, which sometimes is the impression I get..obviously not being in that world I could very well be wrong

oranbhoy67 wrote: »

yeah i understand that now
What is the general consensus now amongst journalists? is there a wilingness yet to finally cover this story?
id hate to think that some dont want to touch the story "because its Gemma's" for want of a better way of phrasing it, which sometimes is the impression I get..obviously not being in that world I could very well be wrong

But that's the point; when did it become anyone's story? The Sunday World did heaps on the case; we've done it. All papers have done it. A colleague of mine spent ages trying to do a story on it after I contacted Gemma. We thought our best way was to speak to the two ex-gardai. He repeatedly tried to track them down. I have been up to my bollix with this feud and have not been able to spend the time I would have liked to on Mary Boyle's disappearance. But we haven't ignored it. It's unfair of people to say the media haven't touched this.

Michael O Toole wrote: »

But that's the point; when did it become anyone's story? The Sunday World did heaps on the case; we've done it. All papers have done it. A colleague of mine spent ages trying to do a story on it after I contacted Gemma. We thought our best way was to speak to the two ex-gardai. He repeatedly tried to track them down. I have been up to my bollix with this feud and have not been able to spend the time I would have liked to on Mary Boyle's disappearance. But we haven't ignored it. It's unfair of people to say the media haven't touched this.

when I read the Sunday World article was when the lightbulb first went off in my head on who the suspect was, and as I said earlier Im told that Sunday World Journalists rang back to Dublin that day to say they knew within hours of being there who killed Mary.. but why just drop the case there??

This created the vacuum that led to Gemma being brought in, how can one freelance journalist be able to do all this work that no newpaper or TV show has? the 2 retired Gards cant be too hard to track down if Gemma managed to get them in the first place, Why cant RTE be called out for their total lack of investigation into this case.. I can understand that there is complications and obstacles there for the media, I didnt understand a few months ago but I do now but to us ordinary citizens looking for answers and indeed to the International press all they can see is a monumental failure by the Irish media .

If you can't get a hold of the ex gards or you feel that you are being hindered in your investigations then why not report that and ask why ! all publicity is good publicity for this case ! it would look a hell of a lot better on your trade as well than the near complete silence there has been on these recent revelations

Going Forward wrote: »

This predicament can be partially solved by moving from describing Mary as being "missing" to describing her as being "missing, presumed murdered".

As has been done.