A DISTRAUGHT Mr Eoghan O'Neill telephoned his neighbour, Mr Johnny Keohane, in the scenic village of Timoleague, west Cork, at 4.30 p.m. on Monday. He said he had just received terrible news. His son, Diarmuid, had been shot dead by British police.
Mr Keohane, the local postman, said yesterday Mr O'Neill was obviously traumatised and shocked. "He told me he had to go back to the UK immediately. He was in a terrible condition. He and his wife, Terry, left straight away for the airport."
"They bought the cottage about eight years ago," Mr Keohane said, "and had been coming over for holidays ever since then. Over a year and a half ago they retired and moved over full time. They're lovely people, a quiet couple who got on very well with everyone but who kept to themselves. They tended their garden and loved being here. We're all shocked that this could happen to such a nice family."
He said Diarmuid (27) was a frequent visitor to Timoleague and his parents' retirement home, Burren Cottage. Mr Keohane said he was a likable, nice, quiet type. "Diarmuid spent two weeks there in July. He didn't get any post but Eoghan and Terry regularly received letters from friends in the UK. Poor Eoghan was in total shock. He was cracking up when he telephoned me."
He said as far as he understood, the O'Neills' daughter, Siobhan, who also lives in London, had contacted gardai in west Cork who in turn told the family about the dramatic events of Monday morning. "I think Eoghan was taken completely aback at the news," Mr Keohane continued.
Another neighbour, Mr Pat Joe O'Brien, whose farm adjoins the O'Neill bungalow, said he held the stations in his home last Thursday for a group of 20 people.
"We invited Eoghan and Terry and they were delighted to come. They are devout Catholics and they really enjoyed the occasion. Afterwards, they had a few drinks and then they left. I was talking to Eoghan at noon on Monday and at that time he knew nothing at all.
"I suppose it goes to show that you never really know anybody," Mr O'Brien continued. "We are all shocked around here at the news. As far as I am concerned, the parents knew nothing. They are such nice people. I think myself and Johnny were the closest friends the O'Neills had in the area. I took them to be in their late fifties or early sixties. She was a Dub and he was from Kildare as far as I know," Mr O'Brien said.
At Burren Cottage yesterday, a well kept residence overlooking the bay in Timoleague, the gates were locked and, except for foreign journalists who poured into the village all day, there was little activity. In the conservatory adjoining the cottage, a copy of The Irish Times lay folded on the table. The signs were that the O'Neills had left their much loved retirement home in a hurry.
The unobtrusive couple had taken to community life in Timoleague with ease. Every night they went to Charlie Madden's pub in the village to chat to local people and enjoy a few drinks.
Mr Madden said the British media had tried and convicted the son without giving a fair hearing "I'll have nothing to do with those newspapers if they come in here. The O'Neills are lovely people as far as I am concerned. They were always in the best of form and at weekends they loved to join in the sing song in the pub. We'll learn all the facts but until then I don't think anybody should rush to judgment," he said.
"Diarmuid often came here for a drink. The parents are highly intelligent, ordinary Irish people and we are all feeling so sorry for them. I never once heard them discuss politics or anything like that in the pub. Sure, they would watch the news on television but they didn't seem to have any special interest in politics. It's such an awful tragedy for them. How do parents know what their kids are up to, anyway?" Mr Madden asked.