‘This is a man we all knew and loved very well’

By Joe Leogue in Macroom

The father-of-one shot dead on a farm outside Macroom has been remembered as a popular, hard-working man and a pillar of the community.

Agricultural contractor Derry Coakley, 58, died after he received a gunshot wound to the torso on farmland at Raleigh, to the southwest of Macroom, at about 11.40pm on Tuesday.

A man in his 60s was yesterday arrested and detained at Bandon Garda Station under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007 in connection with the killing.

It is believed that gardaí are investigating the possibility that the shooting follows a local dispute over the disposal of waste.

Mr Coakley contacted a friend for help after he was shot, but subsequently died at the scene.

Approaches to the farm were closed off yesterday and the scene was sealed to facilitate a forensic examination.

Mr Coakley’s body was removed to Cork University Hospital yesterday afternoon, where the results of an autopsy are expected today.

Mr Coakley lived with his elderly mother on Castle St, in the centre of Macroom, and the family are known as hard-working, and well-liked in the town.

The victim also carried out work in the area on behalf of Cork County Council, and his late father had worked for the local authority in the town.

Local councillor Ted Lucey said he knew Mr Coakley well and described his killing as “devastating”.

Derry used to work in the council here, and his father before him worked in the council with diggers and tractors, and you couldn’t meet a better man to do a job. It’s so sad.

“The town of Macroom would have been knocked down several times only for Derry, he used to go out in snow and frost and spread salt in all the estates and hills up to the schools,” he said.

Peggy O’Callaghan said she knew Mr Coakley since they were children, and described him as a hard worker who was always smiling and jolly.

She said it is hard to imagine driving into Macroom and not seeing Mr Coakley there, and that her thoughts are with his mother.

“She’s such a hard worker herself and they were so close,” she said.

He was a very, very hard worker and a thorough gentleman, very honest. What can I say about him? He was just a good lad, a regular caller to us.

Anything we’d want, ring him up and he would be there at the drop of a pen. A super man,” Ms O’Callaghan said.

Martin Coughlan, who knew Mr Coakley for over 30 years, said he was in a state of shock over the death of a good man and diligent worker.

Derry Coakley. Photo: Richard Mills.

“You could give him a job, and you wouldn’t have to stay with him because you knew the job was going to be done and done to perfection,” he said.

Mr Coughlan said that while the shooting is the second violent death in Macroom in as many weeks, the Coakley family’s high profile in the town would mean this will resonate with many more local people.

“This is a man we all knew and loved very well.

"This is going to shock the people of Macroom a lot more.”