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SCANNAL

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Episode 3: What Happened in Bunratty?

February 10th 1984 William Ryan executive chef at Shannon Airport and his wife  celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with a party at Bunratty Folk Park in Co Clare.  The night ended in tragedy with a 23-year-old banqueting manager Patrick Nugent fatally injured.  What happened in Bunratty that night became the focus of national debate and has still never been satisfactorily explained.

‘Something like this to happen here, touched into the soul of people’   – Fr. Harry Bohan

The circumstances surrounding  the  death raised concerns especially when it became known that two off-duty Gardaí were caught up in the events of the night.  Very quickly the story escalated.  The country’s press descended on Co.Clare to cover the investigations into how exactly Patrick Nugent died.

‘ I held him by the hand for a minute and a half and the hand just dropped, I said to myself that man is gone ‘  – Kathleen Keogh

A manslaughter trial and an inquest raised more questions than answers.  Claims and counter claims were made about who was where and who did what on the night.  A Garda internal inquiry and disciplinary action against a member of the force leading to a series of appeals kept the story in the headlines for years. A lengthy campaign by the Nugent family calling for a full public inquiry proved fruitless.

 

‘My father didn’t think that guards investigating guards was a very good idea’ – Martin Nugent

In 2016 the family got new hope when Patrick’s case was named as one of 320 cases to be examined by the Independent  Review Mechanism set up by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald to deal with allegations of Garda misconduct  or inadequacies in the investigation of certain  allegations.

‘It’s a disgrace and a scandal that we are still trying to find out the truth of what happened here’

–  John Nugent

 SCANNAL revisits the events of 1984 in Bunratty and the many unexpected twists and turns in the case over the years. Some people who were there on the night of  Patrick Nugent’s death speak out,  as well as his two brothers, who tell of the anxiety, frustration and grief they have experienced for over thirty years as they try to get answers and justice for their older brother.

 

This had a huge impact on the Nugent family….. Chef Ryan and his wife, the guards.. there was no proof against any of these people, they suffered a lot as well’ – Fr Harry Bohan

 

Presenter/Reporter: Pádraig O’Driscoll

Producer/Director:  Eimear O’Mahony