Father 'haunted' that son's body lay in morgue for over a year

The father of a Belfast man whose body lay unidentified in a Dublin morgue for more than a year has said the family are haunted by the thought that they were living their lives while he was "lying there in a refrigerator".

The remains of James 'Jim' O'Neill, 43, from Belfast, were discovered in Phoenix Park in Dublin in November 2023.

However, it was December 2024 before the father-of-two's family were informed of his death - despite the fact there were a number of items of identification in his pockets.

His father, Paul O'Neill, said the family believe there was "systemic failure" by the authorities involved.

The O'Neill family met investigators from Fiosrú, the office of the police ombudsman in the Republic, on Monday as they started an investigation into the case.

Speaking to BBC News NI, Paul said the family - and Jim's two children in particular - have experienced "intense sadness, sleepless nights, constant questions, even guilt".

"We were living our lives thinking Jim's on his travels or some other adventure, but meanwhile he was lying there in a refrigerator in a morgue and that's very difficult for us to deal with, it haunts us."

One item of identification - a CV with the name James O'Neill - was found in a backpack near his body, but Paul said it was dismissed as "false ID".

The family hope the investigation will prevent similar incidents in the future and help them find out "how [it] was allowed to happen".

"We don't think this was just a mistake by one or two people," he said.

"To us this goes right across the board, this is systemic failure, that's the way we see this."

Paul said it was not unusual for his son to be out of contact for long periods of time.

"Jim didn't use phones because he didn't believe in phones - he stopped using them a few years back," he said.

"So there was no way of contacting Jim unless Jim contacted you.

"We knew from past experience that Jim was all over the place, in different parts of Europe he was working or camping or whatever it was he was doing and in different parts of Ireland as well.

"There was one time previous to that where he had gone missing for quite a long time and there was nothing from him."

However he said he regularly saw his children, particularly at birthdays.

"In fact the last time we as a family saw Jim was on 15 October 2023, which would have been about a month before he was actually found dead."

The family's solicitor, Pádraig Ó Muirigh, said the case was "very tragic but also very preventable" and that there were "serious shortcomings" in the gardaí (Irish police) investigation.

Speaking to Good Morning Ulster, he said there were also concerns about how the family were treated.

He said he hoped they would "get some answers".

In a statement, the gardaí said that as the matter is being investigated by Fiosrú, it was not in a position to comment.

Fiosrú confirmed it met the O'Neill family on Monday and said it had no further comment as the investigation was ongoing.

Paul said while the family want answers for themselves, there was also a wider issue.

"This was our son Jim, but this could have been anybody's son, this could have been anyone at all," he said.

"Did it happen before? We don't know.

"Could it happen again? Well, hopefully lessons will be learned as a result of our experience."