Human remains not those of missing Tina Satchwell
SKELETAL REMAINS FOUND IN EAST CORK ARE THOSE OF A FEMALE AGED IN HER 70S
GARDAÍ have confirmed skeletal remains found by the side of a disused rail line in east Cork earlier this year are not those of missing Fermoy woman Tina Satchwell.
Ms Satchwell vanished from her home in Youghal on March 20, 2017 and no trace of her has been seen since, despite repeated appeals for information and extensive Garda searches.
On January 5 last shocked workers undertaking clearing work for the €20 million greenway along the old Midleton-Youghal railway line discovered a human skull in the undergrowth.
During a press briefing outside Midleton Garda station on Monday Superintendent Adrian Gamble outlined how, over the following nine days, the area known as the ‘ Tipping Point’ off the Shanty Pass at Roxborough, Midleton was mapped in 3-D using drones and searched by members of the north Cork divisional search team in what he said were challenging weather conditions.
The scene was also examined by a forensic anthropologist and an experienced Garda scenes of crime team.
Supt Gamble said that during the search a number of evidential items, including complete skeletal remains, were located and retained as evidence.
At the time this prompted speculation that the remains may be those of Ms Satchwell, who has been missing for almost four years.
However, speaking on Monday Supt Gamble said that following a post mortem undertaken by state pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster at the CUH, DNA samples were taken from the remains and subsequently set against the national DNA database but it was unable to find a match.
He said that while the services of the Missing Persons Bureau and the Garda National Protected Services has been engaged, attempts to formally identify the remains have thus far proved unsuccessful.
Supt Gamble confirmed the remains were those of a female who was aged in her 70s at the time of her death, was 5’ or 5’ 2” and large framed, wore dentures and suffered from arthritis. He said he deceased was wearing a white faded garment, similar to a nightdress. A crucifix with a chain was also found on the remains.
The remains are believed to have been in situ for at least five years and possibly up to a decade.
Supt Gamble confirmed Gardaí are treating the discovery of the
remains as a criminal investigation but for operational reasons Gardaí declined to say if this could be upgraded into a murder inquiry.
However, Supt Gamble did say Gardaí believed the key to solving the mystery may lie locally and appealed to anyone with information that may assist their investigation to come forward.
“The message here today is that someone in the community must know how the female skeletal remains came to be at this place,” said Supt Gamble.
An Garda Síochána are determined to formally identify the deceased and treat her with the respect and dignity that she deserves. We want to provide closure for a family that at this early stage remain unknown and to ensure the remains are brought to a final resting place.”
Any person with information can contact investigating Gardaí at the incident room at Midleton Garda Station 021 – 4621550, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.”
A CORK county councillor has said he hoped news that a multi-million contract has been signed for the upgrading of Mallow’s overloaded sewer network will herald a new era of prosperity for the town and the surrounding area.
It emerged this week that Irish Water, working in partnership with Cork County Council is set to invest €14 million in the project, which the company said will eliminate sewage overflows into the River Blackwater at a number of different locations.
Irish Water has said it is also progressing with planned upgrades to the waste water treatment plant in Mallow, with the project also expected to commence within the coming months.
The company said it anticipated work on upgrading of the town’s outdated and inadequate sewage infrastructure along the northern and southern banks of the River Blackwater will commence next month and will take two years to complete.
It will incorporate works along the N72, R619, R620 and several other streets within the town.
The project will entail the construction of 5.5 km of new sewer pipes making the system fully compliant with stringent waste water discharge regulations.
It will also incorporate the elimination of Combined Sewer Outflows (CSOs), which are currently in breach of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive and the subject of a European Court of Justice infringement notice, at nine locations along the River Blackwater.
Irish Water has said the project would protect the integrity of the local environment and, perhaps just as importantly, benefit the River Blackwater Special Area of Conservation (SAC) which has been the topic of much debate in relation to the presence of the protected Freshwater Pearl Mussel.
The company’s regional infrastructure lead, Eugene Canavan, said the upgraded infrastructure would serve to “enhance local amenities and provide a platform for social and economic development.”
“We are looking forward to delivering this important project on behalf of the local community in Mallow. This project will enhance the local environment by alleviating sewer flooding and improving water quality in the River Blackwater, while all new infrastructure has been sized to accommodate future population growth,” said
Mr Canavan.
“We will be engaging with elected representatives, businesses and stakeholders over the coming weeks to advise on the proposed programme of works, the works areas and traffic management. Additionally, we will be providing regular updates to all interested stakeholders for the duration of the project”.
Welcoming the development Cllr Pat Hayes, chair of Cork County Council’s Kanturk/Mallow MDC, said it was vital for the future development of the town.
“We have already seen where a number of developments and plannings have been held up on account of the lack of capacity within the existing system to cater for increased demand,” said Cllr Hayes.
He said he hoped it would also bring about a resolution to the controversy surrounding the protection of the Freshwater Pearl Mussel in the Blackwater SAC, which has been blamed for the refusal of planning for developments along the river basin.
“When complete, this project will open the way for many new commercial and residential developments in the Mallow area, heralding a new era of prosperity for the town and its catchment area,” said Cllr Hayes.
“I am glad to see that Irish Water has committed to engaging with all stakeholders to ensure there is as little disruption to the town as possible during the course of the works,” he added.
As seachtain na Gaeilge continues, reports on Cork County Council’s efforts to promote the language. The Council was sharply criticised in the 2018 annual report of An Coimisinéir Teanga for using Google Translate to provide the Irish version of its website. At this weekend’s Conradh na Gaeilge Ard Fheis, it was praised.
WHEN you visit the very comprehensive Cork County Council website these days, you can click on a button in the top right hand corner which provides the website in the Irish language. This has been the case since January 2020.
Between January 1, 2019 and February 17, 2021, there have been a total of 34,957 page views for the Irish language version of the Cork County Council website. This represents 0.69 per cent of the total views of the website for the same period (overall total of 5,061,523).
This is in sharp contrast to what was available up to then. The Council had been using Google Translate up to then to provide a machine translation for Irish and a wide range of foreign languages.
The Irish language version of the website provided by Google Translate was best described as ‘pidgin’ Irish. It was of very poor quality, practically illegible to the many Irish speakers living in Gaeltacht areas in the county, Múscraí and OIleán Cléire, and the many families who use Irish as their daily language and, for instance, send their children to the many Gaelscoileanna throughout Cork to get an Irish medium education.
According to the Language Commissioner: “Until now, from the point of view of Irish, the translation which is provided by systems such as Google Translate is often ineffective and impossible to understand, or the message of the original text is lost.”
In the Coimisinéir Teanga’s 2018 Annual Report, it was pointed out that the Council had in fact committed to providing a full translation of the website by July 2008 in a scheme it had agreed with the Gaeltacht Minister. It had also committed to ensuring the Irish language version of the website would be maintained in line with the English language version.
Many reasons were given for the use of Google Translate to provide the Irish language translation which was said at the time before 2008, to be ‘temporary’ but lasted until the story was highlighted by this reporter in July 2018.
A statement to The Corkman confirmed “it had been using Google Translate as a temporary measure following the development of the Council’s website up to 2018”.
“At website development meetings it was noted that ‘Google Translate’ may present some issues dealing with the nuances of the Irish language, depending on the length of sentences, which could give rise to inaccuracies and ultimately an alternate approach would be needed.
“Unfortunately, due to pressures in respect to the volume of text, the time-frame available and the impending boundary alteration, it was not possible to complete website translation for this interim phase. This has now been completed.”
According to the statement issued by the Council, it faced a number of challenges in ensuring the authority was meeting the commitments it made in the scheme it agreed with the Gaeltacht minister back in October 2007 and to overcome these a phased approach was adapted after an agreement was reached
with the Office of An Choimisinéir Teanga.
The Google Translate option was removed as work began on what was a mammoth task of translation to provide an Irish language version of the longterm content of the website.
“Services were divided across nine categories on the home page, which were translated and updated, section by section, until the process was complete.
“There were some challenges due to the number and vast range of services available through Cork County Council’s website, together with the need to address the changes which the Council’s structure and services were undergoing as a result of the boundary alteration.
“The challenges included the volume of the translations required and the technical issues which arose along the way.
“However, the final section of the phased work was uploaded to
the live website at the beginning of 2020.
“The website is continually monitored to ensure that the static content remains bilingual and compliant under the Act.”
After a further probe from The Corkman, the cost of this work was disclosed.
“Cork County Council can confirm expenditure of €32, 896 in connection with the Irish translation of the website. Ongoing upkeep and translation is now being undertaken internally.”
The amount of other material as Gaeilge being produced by Cork County Council has also been increased.
“The Council has greatly increased social media output through Irish as well as increasing the number of press releases which are issued bilingually.
“Of interest, 274 social media posts, 33 press releases and 178 latest news or public notices were published to the website
bilingually in 2020.”
The successful translation of the website to Irish was commended at last weekend’s Ard Fhéis of Conradh na Gaeilge, the nationwide Irish language organisation.
According to Julian de Spáinn, the organisation’s Ard Rúnaí/ General Secretary, Cork County Council’s website is now an example to all other local authorities and public agencies, many of whom have been slow to agree schemes with the Gaeltacht minister on what services they provide users of their websites and facilities in Irish.
“Now that they have translated the website to Irish, the Council needs to put a continuous publicity campaign in place to inform the public that the service is available in Irish.
“Of course the Irish speaking community do not know about this service and their confidence needs to be bolstered given that there was no Irish language version up to this,” said Mr. de Spáinn.
While the provision of an Irish language translation is welcomed, the Council, along with other public agencies, could face additional obligations for the provision of services through the medium of Irish, particularly as County Cork has two vibrant Gaeltacht communities.
Oireachtas members are currently debating an Official Languages Bill to strengthen the 2003 Official Languages Act. The 2003 legislation which provided for the introduction of schemes which would have to be agreed between public bodies, local authorities and government departments and agencies and the Gaeltacht Minister was widely criticised as being unwieldy and only a fraction of the number of schemes had been agreed and implemented.
The demand is now that public bodies would be required to meet a minimum standard in terms of the provision of Irish language services and, for instance, website versions.
While some will undoubtedly question the expenditure of public funds on translating a website to Irish or providing other services ‘as Gaeilge’, as long as Irish is the official language of the State, according to the Constitution, and as long as people in Cork County and City use the language on a daily basis as is their right, there is no option except to provide for the provision of such services and to ensure that they are available to all at the same standard as services in English are available.
Then, of course, it’s up to the public to avail of these services.