Funds denied for DNA tests on recovered bones

Budgetary constraints are believed to be preventing DNA testing of bones found off the south-east coast which may have come from some of the fishermen lost when three trawlers sank in 2006 and 2007.

A skull and two separate femurs (thigh bones) were found on separate dates in 2010 and 2011 off the south-east coast and have been examined by a now-retired garda detective and forensic scientist.

The bones, which were found by fishermen working along the Waterford and Wexford coastlines, are all believed to have belonged to white males, aged over 30 and about 5ft 10in in height and are believed to have been in the sea for between two and eight years before they were found, as was the skull.

Former detective, forensic scientist and a council member of the British Association of Human Identification, Gerry Kealy, believes there’s a chance they could belong to some of the fishermen drowned when a number of trawlers sank off the south-east coast in 2006 and 2007 and a certain type of DNA testing, which could be carried out in England, could provide identification by comparing DNA samples with the DNA of relatives of the lost men.

However, Mr Kealy’s application to the Garda authorities for funding for such testing — at a cost of between €500 and €12,000 — was rejected for budgetary reasons, he said.

“I’m not saying that these remains belong to any of those fishermen, but there is a possibility,” he said yesterday. “They’re someone’s child and someone’s father and brother.”

Mr Kealy worked for 33 years on scene-of-crime and forensic science investigations and is regarded as one of the country’s foremost experts in the examination and identification of human remains. He lectures in forensic science at Sligo Institute of Technology.

He said the type of testing, for mitochondrial DNA, cannot be done in this country because of the level of decomposition which has occurred in the bones but it can be carried out in England.

“You’re talking about pretty measly money,” he said in relation to the cost of having the bones examined in England. “But that’s what happens when you have accountants making decisions and not policemen.”

The Maggie B sank off Hook Head in Co Wexford with the loss of crew members Glynn Cott and Jan Sankowski in March 2006. The following January, the Pere Charles sank close to Dunmore East and none of the crewmen on board — skipper Tom Hennessy, Pat Hennessy, Andriy Dyrin, Billy O’Connor and Pat Coady — was ever found. In the same week, the Honeydew also sank, taking the lives of skipper Ger Bohan and crew man Tomas Yagla.

Extensive land and sea searches were carried out by the Coast Guard, navy, gardaí, relatives of the dead men and members of the public, but the remains of the lost fishermen were never found.

A garda spokesman said last night that they “do not comment on ongoing investigations” when asked if the funding to get the testing carried out is not available. “Every case is dealt with on a case-by-case basis and we liaise with our international colleagues in Interpol and Europol on an ongoing basis,” he said.