Gardaí admit losing file relating to murder of Mary McGlinchey

Gardaí have admitted that they have lost the original investigation file into the unsolved murder of Mary McGlinchey, the wife of INLA leader Dominic McGlinchey.

Mary McGlinchey was brutally gunned down while bathing her two young sons, Dominic Óg, aged nine, and ten year-old Declan, at their home in Dundalk, County Louth on January 31 1987.

Originally from Bellaghy in south Derry, the former INLA Chief of Staff Dominic McGlinchey was shot dead in Drogheda on February 10 1994.

The couple’s son Dominic Óg, who was present at both their murders, is bringing judicial review proceedings against the Garda Commissioner arising from their failure to adequately investigate the murders of his parents.

At the weekend, Mulholland Law, acting for Mr McGlinchey, confirmed that further issues had been raised in relation to An Garda Síochána’s handling of the criminal investigation.

In a statement, the solicitor’s firm stated: “On foot of our motion to cross-examine a member of An Garda Síochána listed for October 2025, we have recently received an affidavit from Inspector Liam Archbold of Dundalk Garda Station, which now raises further issues of candour pertaining to An Garda Síochána’s handling of the criminal investigation.”

Principal solicitor, Ciarán Mulholland, said: “This latest affidavit from Gardaí brings further revelations – finally Gardaí are accepting they have lost the murder file of Mary McGlinchey and the attempted murder file of Dominic McGlinchey since at least 2015. It is inconceivable that any serious criminal investigation file can vanish into thin air without any explanation, but a murder file of one of the most gruesome killings during the Troubles along with the main exhibits can disappear is shocking. The State have shown utter contempt and disregard in how they deal with survivors of our troubled past. This latest development is further evidence of how disingenuous Gardaí have dealt with our Client.

“Despite the sound bites and spin from Government the practice of promoting access to the truth and meaningful reconciliation lacks any substance – the Omagh Inquiry has highlighted this recently. It is disgraceful that our client was forced to bring High Court litigation as a result of the failures and refusals of the Garda Commissioner to engage or even meet to discuss the unsolved investigations into the deaths of his parents, both of which he witnessed as a child. It has taken years of litigation now and a pending motion to cross examine Gardaí before the most basic information has been shared with our client. This is information any victim or survivor is entitled to yet it was withheld, concealed and denied by An Garda Siochana for years.

“This is an example of a bigger issue - the systematic flaws of toxic policing in Ireland and how there is a culture in which scrutiny and accountability is opposed and suppressed. I am again calling on the Justice Minister to take action and meet with my client and his family - no survivor should ever be expected to litigate to gain access to the truth.”

The news comes just days after a powerful interview with Dominic Óg McGlinchey by Redwolf Media Filmmaker Sean Murray was uploaded to YouTube.

In the opening minutes of the conversation, Mr McGlinchey outlines why he decided to take part in the interview.

“The narrative over the last 47 years about the way that my family has been described and the way that we have been constantly castigated and betrayed, I don’t think is a fair reflection on the type of people that we really are,” he said.

In the recording, which has been viewed more than 50,000 times, Mr McGlinchey also speaks about his mother’s murder files being lost.

“The state are holding back the truth about what happened to my parents.  More so is that the state have lost my mother’s murder files.  All the files in relation to my mother have gone missing. 

“A former murder squad detective has sworn an affidavit to say that he searched Dundalk Garda station, Drogheda Garda station and Ardee Garda Station and that he could find no trace of any file in relation to Mary McGlinchey.  He went to Crime and Security in Phoenix Park and he could find no trace of the Mary McGlinchey murder file.  He asked Crime and Security for a copy of their file, at which point they told him face-to-face that they wouldn’t have any need to have a copy of the Mary McGlinchey murder file, which of course they would have had,” Mr McGlinchey told Sean Murray.  

“Not withstanding that, after removing the bath that my mother was shot in, they threw it in the back of Dundalk Garda Station and a number of years after decided to plant flowers in it.  So it’s that contempt that the state would have for her as a woman and the protection of her two children, a nine and a ten year-old.

“The fact that they let two gunmen into the house, more likely. The fact that they didn’t initiate any powers of arrest. The fact that they lied to the family for over 30 years and clearly stated that nobody was ever arrested in relation to the murder of Mary McGlinchey on numerous occasions through leaking things to the media, talking to solicitors, writing letters to solicitors stating that nobody has ever been arrested and that they had no direct leads and then to find out that in March of 1987 that a 32 year-old male was brought to Navan Garda Station under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act and directly questioned for 48 hours in relation to the murder of Mary McGlinchey.  The fact they felt the need to deceive the family of that. 

“The state have constantly allowed the sullying of Mary McGlinchey’s name, the sullying of Dominic McGlinchey’s name.  Eventually, not only did they kill our character, potentially they’ve also covered up how they were killed and who killed them.”

He added: “I have to protect my family name. I’m lucky enough that my father called me after him and I’m blessed enough that I have a son that carries my name and by God I’m going to protect it.”

During the hour-long interview, Dominic Óg recalls his mother’s horrific murder.

“I’d have been in the bedroom, I’d just got out of the bath and I was putting on my pyjamas and my mother was brushing the water out of my hair when the original bang had come to the back door.  We thought that Declan (his older brother) had fallen in the bath so at that point she had gone to see if he was alright and at that the two men had come running up the stairs. 

“I’ve said it before in the past, the one thing about my mother, she wasn’t afraid to die.  She did ask the men ‘take me out of the house, don’t be letting my children see this’. 

They shot her dead in front of Declan.  Declan’s chest had all the pock marks from the sparks of the submachine gun.”

A first murder attempt on Dominic Óg’s father’s life took place on June 12 1993, the day of his brother Declan’s birthday.

He was shot dead in Drogheda the following year, and during the conversation with Sean Murray, Mr McGlinchey details his recollection of his father’s murder.

Dominic Óg also stated during the interview that he had premonitions in the lead up to both of his parent’s murders.

“When you are around all that mayhem or people dying and being killed, in the lead up to both deaths you be dreaming of death a lot,” he stated.  

“Prior to my mother’s, I was telling her there are gunmen coming to the house.  In my dreams they were coming to kill all of us.  I used to go into her in the middle of the night and I’d tell her that there’s men coming to the house to kill us and then the Saturday prior to her being shot she had told my father on the prison visit. 

“We had gotten privy of having an open visit at that stage.  I remember her leaning across the counter and telling him that she felt that somebody was going to come into the house and kill her and that I had said that people were going to come to the house in my dreams.”

The full interview can be viewed on YouTube