Lynskey and Mangan works nominated for Irish Book Awards
Meath authors Myles Dungan and Hector Ó hEochagáin also on shortlist
Two books with strong Meath themes have been nominated for the An Post Irish Book Awards, the winners of which will be announced this week.
'Who Killed Una Lynskey? A True Story of Murder, Vigilante Justice and the Garda Heavy Gang' by Irish Examiner journalist Mick Clifford, published by Penquin Sandycove, looks back at the murder in October 1971 of the 19 year-old Ratoath woman and its aftermath, which saw a second brutal death. Described as “a true story of murder and vengeance, a shattered community and a miscarriage of justice that echoes down the decades”, it is a ground-breaking account of the botched investigation and its consequences for not just four devastated families, but also the reputation of the gardaí.
The book draws on interviews with surviving family members and locals, as well as exclusive access to the files of private investigator, the late Billy Flynn from Enfield, who uncovered information the gardai missed – or ignored. Una Lynskey went missing near Porterstown Lane, which links the Fairyhouse Road with the Dublin-Navan Road. Her body was recovered in the Dublin mountains in December 1971. One of those accused of her murder, Martin Kerrigan, was abducted by her family members who were convicted of his manslaughter after his body was also recovered in the Dublin mountains just over a week after her recovery.
It is a case that has left many unanswered questions from all families involved – the Lynskeys, who have never seen anybody convicted of Una's murder, the Kerrigans and the families of two other men who were charged and convicted with her manslaughter, Martin Conmey and Dick Donnelly, both of whom eventually successfully appealed their convictions, with Conmey, who served a three-year sentence, receiving a State apology after a declaration of a miscarriage of justice following a protracted legal battle.
Witnesses’ claims that a strange car was seen in the area at the time, that screams were heard close to Porterstown Bridge, and that a woman was seen struggling in a dark car, were never followed up properly by the investigation, and it was claimed that gardai ill-treated the three suspects in the Lynskey murder case and beat them into making confessions over a two-day period of incarceration at Trim Garda Station, which was denied by gardai. Clifford looks at the role of the Garda Murder Squad – or the 'heavy squad', headed up by John Courtney, in the case, into which a full review was last year opened by An Garda Síochana.
It is nominated in the WHSmith Non-Fiction Book of the Year category.
Nominated in the Dubray Biography of the Year is Bridget Hourican's 'Finding Mangan', published by Gill, and described as 'absorbing, witty and deeply researched, resurrecting Ireland's most enigmatic literary figure, restoring him to his rightful place in the national consciousness'.
The Mangan in question is James Clarence Mangan, 'alcoholic, opium addict, romantic, famine poet, Dublin Street character and hero of James Joyce', who had Kiltale family roots.
Born in 1803, his mother was Catherine Smith from Kiltale and his father, James Mangan, a hedge-school teacher from Limerick. They ran a grocery shop on Fishamble Street in Dublin, a business which had been inherited from Catherine's aunt, Mary Farrell, who had moved to Dublin from Kiltale. The Mangan family remained in Fishamble Street until 1917 when they moved to Chancery Street, due to his father's failure in business.
His literary career began when he was 15, and the last poem to appear before his death in 1849 was 'The Famine'. He wrote mainly for nationalist papers, but only one collection of his poetry was published during his lifetime. He wrote many 'Rose poems' including 'Dark Rosaleen', and died in squalor at the age of 46 from cholera, which was gripping famine-ravaged Ireland at the time.
Journalist and historian Bridget Hourican's first encounter with the name James Clarence Mangan was in the early hours of 4th August 2008, in a lock-in at McGruder's pub on Thomas Street in Dublin's Liberties. The intimate gathering included no less than the late Shane McGowan, who had a book of poetry with him. His favourite work from the collection was 'A Vision of Connaught in the 13th Century' by Mangan. Thus began Hourican's quest to find out more about this mercurial long-forgotten poet, which quickly became an obsession. The surviving biographical material – scant, subjective, sometimes falsified – both fascinates and frustrates her, and she becomes determined to find him.
The lines between research and real life become blurred, and Bridget begins to notice aspects of her life bleeding into Mangan's. An obsession becomes a haunting, and she realises the only way to truly reach Mangan is to reckon with her own ghosts.
Also nominated for the awards, which will be announced on Wednesday night in the Convention Centre, Dublin, are 'Land Is All That Matters: The Struggle That Shaped Irish History', by Myles Dungan of Kells (Apollo, Head of Zeus); and Navan native Hector Ó hEochagáin's 'The Irish Words You Should Know' in TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published.
A one-hour television special, hosted by Oliver Callan, will be broadcast on RTÉ One on 19th December next, giving viewers an insight into the six books and the authors competing for the accolade of An Post Irish Book Awards Book of the Year 2024.