The body of a man found dead in Dublin’s Phoenix Park remained unidentified by gardaí and the coroner’s service for almost 13 months, despite the later discovery of nine forms of ID in his pocket.
Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, is investigating how the body of Belfast man James O’Neill remained unidentified for so long and how various forms of identification later found on his person went undiscovered.
The Dublin District coroner has apologised to Mr O’Neill’s family for the “oversight” where his body remained in a Dublin morgue from November 17th, 2023, until December 2024 when a forensic anthropologist found documents in a zipped pocket of his rain coat confirming his identity.
Mr O’Neill’s remains were found by a Phoenix Park ranger on November 17th, 2023, in a wooded area of the park.
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A garda who attended the scene found a CV bearing the name “James O’Neill” in a backpack discovered near the body, according to a Garda investigation report. A bicycle was also found nearby.
The identity on the CV was later discounted as the addresses and companies listed on the CV “had no record of the person named”, the Garda report said.
[ He was found dead in the Phoenix Park. It took a year to identify him as James O’Neill ]
In a February 2025 letter to Belfast solicitors representing Mr O’Neill’s family, Dublin coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said a postmortem was conducted on November 21st, 2023. Mr O’Neill’s name appeared on that postmortem report based on the CV found among the possessions of the dead man.
His clothing was examined during the postmortem but the examination “did not reveal any other documentation to assist in identification”, she wrote.
The remains were left at Dublin District Mortuary until identified in December 2024, a year after the body was discovered, when a forensic anthropologist examined the body to help identify the remains, according to Dr Cullinane’s letter.
During that examination, documents were found within an inner pocket of clothing that led to the identification of Mr O’Neill.
“These documents had not been revealed by any prior examination of the clothing either by An Garda Síochána or the anatomical pathology technicians of the Dublin District Mortuary,” she said.
“This oversight on the part of the Coroner’s Service of the Dublin District has caused undue delay and distress to your clients for which I sincerely apologise.”
Mr O’Neill’s parents were told about the discovery of their son’s body on December 13th, 2024.
His parents have made a complaint to Fiosrú about the Garda response to the discovery of their son’s remains, asking why he went unidentified for so long and why there was no public appeal issued by the Garda in national media or on its website.
Belfast solicitor Pádraig Ó Muirigh, who represents Mr O’Neill’s parents Ann and Paul O’Neill, described the case as “baffling”.
The Garda, Fiosrú, Dublin Dublin District’s coroner’s office and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan all declined to comment.
