Discovery of Cork woman's remains prompts further call for 'safety net' system
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A leading elderly rights campaigner has repeated his calls for a social welfare alert system following the death of another person whose remains lay undiscovered at home for months.
Campaigner Paddy O’Brien, who in 2019 raised concerns about what he called "increasing urban isolation” following the discovery of a man six months after he died in his Cork flat, said such cases are happening on a far too frequent basis.
Earlier this month, Mark Watters, 61, was found dead at his flat in Castletownbere. It is believed he died six months ago.
In January 2023, the skeletal remains of Tim O’Sullivan, 62, were found inside a boarded up terraced bungalow in Mallow. An inquest established that he had died 22 years earlier — sometime between January 9 and January 23, 2001.
Mr O'Brien said: “A lot of deaths could be avoided if there was a system in place."
He spoke out as gardaí continue their investigation into the death of a woman, named locally as Joyce O’Mahony, 58, whose decomposing body was found in her house on the city’s southside on Tuesday.
It is understood that Ms O’Mahony was extremely private, did not venture out much, and was last seen alive in 2021.
But it understood that gardaí have been able to establish from items in the household that she was alive in November 2022. It is possible that she may have lain dead in the house for up to 18 months.
The alarm was raised after a pest control worker who was investigating a rodent issue nearby traced the problem to where Ms O’Mahony had been living alone in a two-storey semi-detached house at Brookfield Lawn, near the Lough, and spotted human remains through a rear window.
The area was sealed off and following an initial investigation of the scene, gardaí ruled out foul play.
It is hoped the results of a post mortem examination conducted on the remains at Cork University Hospital on Wednesday will narrow the time of death to within a few months. Dental records will be used to formally identify the remains.
The garda investigation will include door-to-door enquiries, an examination of food best before dates and post dates, and a trawl of phone, bank, or social welfare records in a bid to trace the most recent activity.
But Mr O’Brien said the Department of Social Protection must introduce a “safety net” or an alert system which could lead to vulnerable people being assisted, or least their remains found sooner if in the event they died alone.
“It (the passing of Joyce O’Mahony) is a desperate tragedy,” he told Neil Prendeville on Cork’s RedFM.
"To alleviate any more tragedies what has to happen is that the social welfare people must change their system completely.
“Two years ago I had a long discussion on the phone with the Social Welfare and I said that they were making one error — that is if a person doesn’t pick up their pension for six weeks that is recognised in head office and they write to the recipient of the pension.
“If the social welfare do not get a reply in six weeks they stop the payment.
“And at that point I said that ‘you shouldn’t write to the person, you should tell the gardaí and (they could go) and do something.’ A lot of deaths could be avoided if there was a system in place.”
Mr O’Brien acknowledged that sometimes people become reclusive and that must be respected but he said there is a need to be mindful of their welfare.
He also called on members of the public to contact the HSE or gardaí if they have any concerns about not seeing neighbours for some time.