The Killing of Fr Niall Molloy

Makes sense. I'm sure the manner in which he ran rings around the judicial system in those cases put his star quality even higher and added a couple of zeros to his rates.

To the best of my knowledge it still is.

I’d say you’re not far off the mark here, it was the fact that fr Molloy was breaking up with Mrs Flynn they upset her more than the money issue

Seems that Richard Flynn was one of 7 children. 3 became doctors with 2 of them going to USA and 1 sister staying in Ireland. Elder brother Thomas inherited Flynns of Lackagh a fairly large business (employs 75 people today) and Richard took over the family land in Tubber. Not sure what 2 other brothers did. With a family, that size, where the first child must have been born c.1925 -may not have happened but it would be far less unusual than today if 1 of the siblings died before adulthood. I think some of the media reports now (and since 1985) refer to the family farm being in Tober. Stand corrected but think it was as Andrea B says in Tubber which is is about 4 miles from Kilcoursey house rather than Tober which is about 35 miles from Kilcoursey and in West Meath rather than Offaly. Not really relevant but Richard's decision to sell the farm in mid 1970s and open up motor factor shops makes more sense now when you realise he grew up as one of the ' Flynns from Lackagh'. Also coming from the family he did and allowing for what many of his siblings did a certain amount of pressure to ' do well' which also explains why the Flynns from Clara ended up as all fur coat and no knickers.

Richard's brother died in 2005 and the RIP notice mentions his then surviving siblings; don't know that Richard was the youngest of the 7 but he was the last to pass away. I have not been a Boards.ie member long enough to post the RIP links. His brother Dr Martin Flynn, moved to California, died in 2005; his sister Dr Betty O'Malley, from Westport, died in 2016.

They had one or more motor factors shops in Athlone and a cafe. Athlone is about 15 miles from Clara. After they sold Kilcoursey in 1991 they moved to Glasson, County Westmeath which is about 20 miles from Clara. Therese Flynn died in 1993 and was buried in Tubberclair. Glasson to Tubberclair is about 2.5 miles. Richard re-married and died in 2017 and was buried next to his first wife.

Lenihans afaik there for wedding and left that day so not in Kilcoursey on day of Fr Molloy's death. Aside from Richard and Therese- Richard's aunt May lived in the house and at least one employee. 'C' who acted as a groom for the Molloy/Flynn horse buying business. Richard/Therese/ Niall went to the Goodbodys who lived locally and had been at wedding and had asked the trio around for a drink. The drinks at Goodbodys ended c9pm. 8-10 members of wedding group including a number of Flynns and in-laws were in White's pub that night for some of the evening albeit almost certainly not for as long as they later claimed.

Molloy inherited/ was gifted £60,000-£65,000 in the mid 1960s which is perhaps €750,000 in today's values. He obviously had no children and lived in accommodation provided by the church after the age of 25 or so and invested his money. The Flynn/Molloy horses were said to be worth c£70,000 in 1985 - perhaps €250,000 in today's values ? There was land- some plot of land near a by-pass mentioned in the 1987 Today Tonight episode which has been mentioned on this thread. The general reports since 1985 also refer to jointly owned shares but whether this was (say) £100 in Bank of Ireland shares or a 5 figure share portfolio others will have to advise I have never seen any figures.

Not in every case and possibly not at all. The plot of land referred to in the 1987 Today Tonight show was held as tenants in common rather than by way of a joint tenancy. One of Fr. Molloy's nephews was interviewed on the show and said that the first the family had heard of this was through the journalist i.e Therese Flynn had not told the relatives of her close deceased friend that there was valuable land to go to his family.

It would appear the horses were appreciating in value. He reportedly had a very good eye for horses.

His foolishness might be in the lack of paperwork. He should have had drawn up a Partnership Agreement. Had a separate solicitor to Theresa Flynn. Receipts for everything. Either kept comprehensive books himself or had a bookeeper. Legal provsions, how was the business to be wound up, who got what.

You could say he had the financial complacency you might expect from someone who grew up in wealth. He had never experienced lack or poverty. So not the fear or caution many of us might have. Was firstly of a spiritual nature than a materialistic but in any event inheriting suficient funds that he never had to worry about budgeting or minding his money.

The casual, informal financial relationship probably worked quiet well while both he and the Flynns were flush. As they were for a long time - the 70s. Why on either side would anyone worry about coppers when everyone was doing well and they were all friends. That notwithstanding he may have been putting more into the business than the Flynns were even in the good times.

The bad times came in the early eighties. The Flynns would now have cash flow problems. Also coinciding with Molloy getting on a bit and contemplating his retirement in the mid eighties. Was the limit of his personal funds coming in sight. And the assumption that he could always get money back out of his equine business now appearing very problematic.

Money does seem a strong point tention and motivation here. Although it's not certain.

Do you believe that some or all of the four children may have been Molloy's?

There's a real problem with this scenario as to why Richard would willingly put himself in the role of cuckold.

What are the motivations and reasonings for Richard here. It's hard to come up with a reasonable explanation.

Also whilst the outside world might have been intimidated by these monied class and not peered into their affairs too closely there would surely be an internal maelstrom. The children, the house staff - you could not keep such a bizarre arrangement secret. And surely it would create an intolerable strain with the children.

I don't mean to shoot down the theory out of hand. Just it leaves some big questions unanswered.

There is a slight variation in the time line as to whether they left the Goodbodys at 9pm or 915pm. That part I put down to who exactly on the weekend of a wedding would pay exact minute attention to such a point. The two houses were 5 minutes apart in a car if that. Pre 905pm, or whatever, Auntie May was in the house; Maureen Parkes (nee Flynn) was in the house & Maureen was joined in minding Auntie May (I think) by Anne Flynn (David's wife). After that likely the time line was retrospectively fudged as to who was where and when. But in any event there were 6-8 other people around aside from Maureen & Anne. This is the group that was in Whites pub albeit not for as long as was later claimed.

The Flynn family from Galway (thanks to Andrea B's research) was originally the Kearney family from Galway. An Offaly farmer called Flynn married one of the Kearney daughter's hence the name changed. Whilst he moved as far as I can follow to Galway they seemed to keep the land for a while until sold in the 1970s.

Frankly it seems absurd.

Go back to cap.in.hand's comment-

'  amazing they bought the 68 acres back then for £13000 and sold 26 acres for £21000'

They still owned £34,000 in land. Fr. Molloy owned £17,000 of that. He may not have kept daily records of price movements in the value of the horses but lets say he thought the £70,000 worth of horses were worth £60,000- £30,000 of that was his. He would not have written off the £12,000- I am sure he expected to get it back- he would have been annoyed they were playing games over it. So there was easily £60,000 worth of assets. I leave out his own personal accounts, the joint accounts and the shares they owned together as I don't know any values for those. That's still a lot of money- we were earlier told that the £12,000 deposit was the equivalent of a 'good' salary which today would be €50,000. So there was easily €250,000 in today's money which Molloy had if not more.

62 might be 'getting on a bit' for some but not all. He of course was 52. As nice a man as he is said to be he spent about half the week away from his parish. I am sure most priests in rural Ireland did not do that in the 1980s. Any thoughts of retirement may have been for a number of reasons. He had been a priest for 25 years or more. He had briefly served abroad in Cyprus. He had spent from 42 to 52 close to where he grew up. In as far as he had maybe had earlier thoughts about becoming a Bishop etc it seemed on his career trajectory that wasn't going to happen.

It seems he had Fair & Murtagh as his own solicitor and the partnership used Liam Lysaght so no doubt it could have been more formal- but he did not seem a complete fool over the joint finances.

Possibly there was the occasional priest in the 1980s who wasn't ' into anyone'. Maybe he kept his vows. The researchers for the recent documentary could find no evidence to the contrary.

There was a tax amnesty in Ireland, in I think 1988, but definitely one in 1993. I think when you also recall the issue in National Irish Bank, and no doubt other banks, around 2004/5 - where it was found out that lots of people for 10-20 years past had been going in to the banks, would be known to the banks (as locals) and with a straight face say they lived with their Great-Aunt in Cricklewood, could they have a non-resident a/c - there is a good chance that the Flynn/Molloy partnership was not 100% tax compliant. Richard Flynn obviously got clobbered for tax in 1987.