Ireland ‘too far behind’ on cadaver dogs needed to find missing and murdered people, expert warns

Oliver McVeigh, whose brother Columba McVeigh  is one of the disappeared since October 1975, at the Missing Persons Day event in The Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

Specialised, trained dogs are crucial when it comes to finding missing or murdered people, but there are not enough of them in the country, an expert dog handler has said.

Paul Murphy, who trains cadaver dogs, said Ireland is "too far behind other countries" when it comes to the supply of specialised trained animals that are crucial in human search and rescues.

He said a dog’s sense of smell is 100,000 times more sensitive than a human and dogs can detect odours long after the remains of a deceased person have been buried.

Mr Murphy was speaking at the annual Missing Persons Day event at Kilmainham hospital on Wednesday.

“I would love to see every civil defence unit have a cadaver dog,” he told the Irish Examiner. “They are so helpful. They are finding bodies in water and on land, gases come to the top of the water and a dog can find the remains.

“A properly trained dog will be able to pick up the small amount of odour if they are trained properly".

Pauline Price, the mother of Luke Price who went missing in January 2025. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

Mr Murphy said a dog can detect a small drop of blood on a bus quicker than anyone else. “They can do the work that no machine can ever do”, he told the event.

“In one of my cases, the dog was able to find the murder weapon, which was a stone, in a sandpit — because there was blood on it."

The lack of cadaver dogs was also in the spotlight during the search for Tina Satchwell in Cork.

Her remains were finally discovered six years after she went missing buried 10ft under concrete in the home she had shared with her killer and husband Richard Satchwell.

“I train dogs that go to police units in the states,” said Mr Murphy. “I would really like to see a lot more of them here. They are badly needed.”

The Missing Persons Day event, which has taken place every year since 2013, also heard from the Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly and Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan.

Minister for justice Jim O’Callaghan and Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly at the Missing Persons Day event in The Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

Mr O'Callaghan said he hoped to bring in new legislation in the new year to help with the identification of missing people.

“This will enable Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) to take advantage of more powerful analytical technologies, significantly increasing the chances that viable DNA profiles can be generated for the purposes of comparison and identification," he said.

Frank O'Neill, whose brother Jimmy went missing 78 years ago this month from Waterford, was one of the speakers on the day. He addressed the Garda Commissioner directly asking for a “public apology” over the disappearance of his brother who "was driven out of town by one bad detective".