Cuts to ‘cold-case’ team - Worrying move

IT IS alarming to note that the number of gardaí working on so-called cold cases has been halved. A special unit formed to investigate unsolved homicides and high-profile missing person cases, it has brought hope to many families up and down the country.

Officially named the Serious Crime Review Team, it had a staff of 15 in 2013 but this had been reduced to eight by the close of 2015. Precisely why almost 50% of its staffing levels was cut in just two years remains unclear.

Among the unsolved cases were the murders of Raonaid Murray in Glenageary, Dublin, in September 1999; Irene White in Dundalk, Co Louth, in April 2005; Emer O’Loughlin in Tubber, Co Clare, in April 2005; and Eddie Fitzmaurice in Charlestown, Mayo, in May 1998. The team is also investigating several prominent cases of women who disappeared.