The Killing of Fr Niall Molloy

Galwayguy35 · 08-09-2021 8:17pm

It beggers belief the actions of the judge at the time, wonder did a large brown envelope change hands?

The Flynn kids must be in their late 50s now I suppose so still young enough to remember clearly what went on, maybe someday one of them will decide to open up.

HildaOgdenx · 08-09-2021 8:36pm

Watched part 1 on the RTE Player just now. So awful. I remember the case, but had forgotten the details of the trial and so on.

It's heartbreaking, listening to his family, knowing that the truth is unlikely ever to be known.

08-09-2021 8:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117865073#Comment_117865073

..in fairness during that interview...he looked and acted like a rabbit dazzled by headlights.

What interview is this referring to?

Tork · 08-09-2021 8:51pm

https://frniallmolloy.com/statement-from-david-flynn/ Is it this one?

cap.in.hand. · 08-09-2021 9:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117865339#Comment_117865339

Actually looking at it again...he seems quite composed

08-09-2021 9:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117865361#Comment_117865361

Thanks. i don't know. the rte link it goes to it won't play for me .just a black space. in edge i get a prompt to update flash but trying give messge that its discontinued

Tork · 08-09-2021 9:43pm

The transcription of what he said is just above the video. It was in this week's documentary as well

***************"

In the clip, an RTÉ reporter asked David Flynn if his family had found it very difficult to handle the rumours and speculation surrounding the case.

He replied: “Extremely difficult. It’s very difficult, maybe, when one knows certain answers and isn’t in a position to comment. It makes it very difficult to live with.”

08-09-2021 10:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117865572#Comment_117865572

ok thanks i just got this weeks but haven't watched. i saw the transcript I wanted to see the headlights look

Tork · 09-09-2021 1:54am

I had no trouble viewing the video clip on my phone or on the computer

batman75 · 09-09-2021 8:42am

From what we know Fr Molloy was attacked and didn't have the ability to defend himself. Money aside my theory is maybe Richard Flynn discovered the Fr Molloy was the father of his daughter and he lashed out at both Fr Molloy and his wife Theresa. By all accounts David Flynn's relationship with his mother was never the same after the death of Fr Molloy.

Trigger Happy · 09-09-2021 8:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117866466#Comment_117866466

That's a big bit of speculation to be throwing out there with zero evidence. Those who knew Fr Molloy have always been clear that he was not the type of fella to be chasing women. Certainly my own family's experience is that he was never anything less than a gentleman.

It is possible for a man and woman to be friends and to work together without sleeping together.

Bass Reeves · 09-09-2021 9:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117866493#Comment_117866493

My opinion would be the same. I expect the reason FR Molloy got killed was over money and land. The Flynn's seem in financial trouble. Molloy had lend them money and had money tied up in ventures with them.

It's interesting that Theressa Flynn tried to cash in a Life Assurance policy belong to him. How she had access to it is questionable. Richard Flynn seemed to have financial trouble from different area's. Revenue, banks and his business may have been in trouble as well.

This was 1987, we were after 6-7 years of recession and faced into 2&3 more. A lot of rural Ireland was a ghost town. At least along the west coast you had tourism for 4-6 months of the year. The marginal tax rate was over 60% inc PRSI. For some running a business especially a limited company there was huge temptation to take money out in cash, saving vat and tax and company tax if you had to take money as a dividend.

I know of a businessman from where I originates from taught he was a personal friend of Charles Haughey. Revenue got there tentacles into him. Often the biggest issue for these people was finding a legal way to buy back the business as the money was stashed overseas. This businessman got a loan from a bank in Chicago to buy the business which revenue had put in liquidation.

HildaOgdenx · 09-09-2021 10:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117866493#Comment_117866493

Exactly.

The respect and love shown by Fr Molloy's family, and friends, in that programme and the fact that they have devoted so much time and effort to this, says a lot also, in my opinion.

And I think it's always a good idea to try to imagine if this was a member of your own family, whose murder was never solved, how would you feel seeing baseless speculation like that, about them.

batman75 · 09-09-2021 11:25am

It does sound like he was apprehensive about going to Kilcoursey that weekend. Given that Theresa Flynn needed medical attention in Tullamore it is understandable why people would speculate as to why her husband hit her. I have no doubt that Fr Molloy was a man of good repute and his family deserve that David Flynn once and for all put an end to speculation by giving a definitive account of what happened that night. Justice cannot most likely be served at this point but at least let the truth come out.

If David Flynn truly feels remorse for what happened to Fr Molloy he would come forward and let the truth be known.

ernielove · 09-09-2021 12:38pm

I agree with the money and land theory. I don't think the father did it. He was too composed. I think that there were people all in the house at circa 10pm and so the timeline put forward by the family is potentially fabricated. I think a row ensued and someone lost it momentarily at around the time the watch stopped. They all saw what had happened and they spent the intervening hours trying to garner unanimity as regards to the chain of events/story that they would present to the Investigators - and conceivably tagging everyone with an accessory label to scare them into silence. I believe, having read somewhere that legal advice was sought in the interim which might lend to this theory. However I could have it all crossways. Who really knows.

What does strike me as extremely callous is the fact that the poor man was still alive for a considerable duration according to reports. It must have rotted the family though - knowing the full facts. There can be no peace for either family.

I wonder what became of the house?? does anyone know??

09-09-2021 12:58pm

I can “understand” in the broadest sense of that word, how someone owed money might take to violence in order to retrieve that money, especially if they felt they were being swindled in some way.

however, it was Fr Molloy that was owed money but yet it was he that was killed- and by all accounts he didn’t inflict injuries to any other person- why would you kill the person you owed money to? I mean, you could tell them “I don”t have it” “sue me” “our friendship is finished”- but you don”t kill them-

no-I’m not going to believe Fr Molloy died because he was owed money- the debt owed to him may have been a catalyst in all of this but it wasn’t the central issue here-

and why wait until he’s dead before calling for medical assistance and the guards? 999 was a service available in the 1980s- someone wanted him dead and I don’t believe the motive was over a debt owed to him- it makes absolutely no sense to me.

Talisman · 09-09-2021 1:01pm

I haven't watched the program. Was there any mention of the coffee table that was broken or the missing ornament that used to reside on it?

ernielove · 09-09-2021 1:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867568#Comment_117867568

so whats your theory then?

chicorytip · 09-09-2021 1:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867115#Comment_117867115

There were all sorts of rumours flying around in the aftermath of the incident. Most of them seemed fanciful. It was said Molloy and Theresa were having an affair even though there was no indication that they ever had. Another was that they were in fact half-siblings. This came about due to a rumoured relationship between Molloy's father and Theresa's mother. Another had it that it was Molloy who was in financial difficulty and he owed the Flynn's a large sum of money - not the other way around. Now, in the aftermath of this weeks documentary, speculation surrounds David Flynn and his possible role in the death of Fr. Molloy. If he is keeping a deep,dark secret it's likely he will carry it with him to his own grave.

Addle · 09-09-2021 1:32pm

If the Flynn’s were in such financial bother, how did they manage to get people on side/pay them off after the murder?

09-09-2021 1:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867677#Comment_117867677

Eh I wasn’t aware I needed one to post here? I’m quite free to post my views on other people speculation without requiring a stupid speculative theory of my own-there’s enough bullsh1t “theories” posted in this thread without me adding another one

Spencer101 · 09-09-2021 1:41pm

David Flynn's interview quoted in the McGinn report said something like in one way Fr Molloy and Therese Flynn were closer than a married couple- staying in a hotel at Dublin horse show together, drinking heavily at night with one another. In the wider Flynn family may that have been a negative issue ? Whereas there has to be someone at the wedding, whether they were a Flynn or not who took offence to the fact that the priest who lived close to half the week at Kilcoursey didn't conduct the wedding and showed up late for the meal. I find it near impossible that even if Fr Molloy was having an affair with Therese Flynn that it had just started and/or in his 53rd year after knowing the Flynns for 30 years it was just discovered. Unless someone has very good evidence I tend to think there was no affair and the row was about money & not conducting the wedding and perhaps other non sexual issues.

cap.in.hand. · 09-09-2021 1:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867473#Comment_117867473

I also wonder was the house bought because at the time they said it could make up to £300,000 back then.

ernielove · 09-09-2021 1:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867717#Comment_117867717

yeah i think you are right on your last point.

ernielove · 09-09-2021 1:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867791#Comment_117867791

its all opinion, conjecture and peoples interpretations of what they have seen. Of course all of it is speculative but there are gaps in the events etc which lead people to draw their own conclusions - whether they are BS in the opinion of others or not. I very much doubt we will ever know the real events but having watched the show and the doc on youtube and read the website articles I have done a couple of 1-80's as regards to what I thought intially and what i think now.

09-09-2021 2:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867877#Comment_117867877

Fair enough- I just didn’t want to be adding conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory as that just makes a thread go off the rails and fiction quickly becomes fact.

I could post all sorts of theories here but I wouldn’t be any closer to the truth.

the McGinn report unfortunately paints a bleak picture in terms of us ever finding the truth or anything near the truth- there are witnesses still alive today that could at least bring some closure but I fear at the very most, they won’t provide any statement, at least not while they’re alive- maybe a statement will issue sometime down the road when those who have most to lose from the truth coming out have died

In the meantime maybe the most we can hope for is a death bed confession or someone in their elderly years gripped with fear and remorse

cap.in.hand. · 09-09-2021 2:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867801#Comment_117867801

Actually that's a good point...his relationship with the Flynn family would make it almost compulsory that he would perform the wedding ceremony... Doing the other ordinary wedding the same day doesn't look his style..they could have planned different wedding date if they really wanted him and he available.

jmayo · 09-09-2021 2:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867568#Comment_117867568

Ah FFS.

You don't think people would kill for money.

Molloy might lift the lit on a lot dodgy dealings.

After all wasn't he supposed to be buying land off Richard in partnership with Theresa.

How was that going to work unless Theresa had substantial monies of her own separate from Richard.

If the investment and partnerships with Theresa were proven to be a sham, they would lose everything including their status as the landed gentry.

And never forget this was Ireland of the 80s where local status was still something very important.

Fr Molloy's house was broken into and searched for papers.

Were the Flynns removing evidence of their dealings with him?

I would say the following:

one if not more of the Flynns are/were murderers.
family friends in the house that helped them
they used their local position and the churches distaste for sexual scandal (claims the priest was at it with Theresa maybe) to get local priest to play along
they used friendly doctor to play along.
they got a friendly judge to subvert justice (yes the late highyl touted judge was a sleeveen)
high ranking fianna fail members were connected to the family and would gladly facilitate church requests to avoid possible scandals.
gardai would also listen to requests from fianna fail and the church.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867754#Comment_117867754

it is not just about money.

It is connections and favours. You scratch my back, I scratch yours someday when you need it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117860835#Comment_117860835

Look into most scandals in Ireland and you find church, major political parties, gardai and sometimes the GAA.

ernielove · 09-09-2021 2:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117867999#Comment_117867999

I agree with you on this. The only way it can happen now is probably a deathbed confession or as you suggest. I said the same to my wife and she replied 'well yeah but what if they themselves have family/ kids... how will it affect them (ie the family) and their lives to be associated with this and for it to be all over the newspapers and TV...' and there is such a fascination with this case that it would be for ages. So to be honest Id be very surprised if there will even be a confession. But we live in hope I guess for the sake of the Molloy family if nothing else.

09-09-2021 2:22pm

That’s not what I said- people will kill for money - but it’s usually the person who’s owed money that will do the killing- the opposite has happened in this case - it makes no sense to kill the person you owe money to, especially if they’ve been a life long friend - yes the debt is likely cancelled but you’re in a whole other level of doo doo at that point.

i can understand a blow thrown in anger in this scenario with likely immediate regret for doing so- but Fr Molloy was brutally attacked and deliberately left to die- that makes no sense to me- it wasn’t “just” money that he died so brutally.

The Killing of Fr Niall Molloy

Comments