Gardai believe local information will solve mystery of Offaly farm fire
GARDAI believe local information holds the key to unlocking the mystery of a devastating fire at a family farm near Clonbullogue more than 18 months ago.
Hundreds of thousands of euros worth of damage was caused to plant and machinery at the farm of Lorraine and Eugene O'Neill by the arson attack in the early hours of November 27 last.
A fresh appeal for help from the public was made by the family and gardai on RTE's Crimecall show on Monday night.
Detective Sergeant David Scahill said: “Shortly after arriving at the farm we established this wasn't an accidental fire.”
Speaking from her home on the dairy farm, Lorraine O'Neill recalled the early hours of that Saturday morning when she woke to see “a big orange ball of flame” facing her.
“It was really, really windy and it was blowing the fire towards us, it was spitting towards the house and between that fire and our house would be the kerosene and the diesel tank. We were all out in the dark in wind and rain. It was really stormy and it was very wet and we were half dressed,” she said.
Amid the smoke and poor visibility, her husband and one of her sons had to move calves from sheds to save them.
“As they went into a shed you watched holding your breath until they came out.”
Eugene said the blaze was so big and there was so much smoke that they didn't know for sure what was on fire or what wasn't. But he knew it must have been started maliciously.
Previously the family revealed that a number of fires had been started in different locations around the farmyard.
Straw had been moved around and CCTV had been cut. Gardai believe movements of people in the area between 3am and 7am on November 27, 2021 are critical to the investigation, as are activities in the preceding days and weeks.
In 2019 the O'Neills were named Axa farm insurance heroes of the year for their fundraising efforts for Crumlin Hospital where one of their sons, Diarmuid, was treated for long periods as a child.
They donated the €10,000 prize to the hospital and community groups in their area. Another of their five children, Keith, was on the Offaly team which won the Under 20 All-Ireland football title in 2021.
An appeal for information on the fire was also aired on Crimecall in October last year. On Monday night Crimecall presenter Sharon Ni Bheolain said gardai had already received a lot of help from the public with the case but urged anyone with further information to call 1800 40 50 60.