143 Years Later, the Lough Mask Case May Be Heading Back to the Newspapers
Yesterday I had a Zoom meeting with a lovely Irish journalist about the Lough Mask case, the surviving evidence, and why I’m fighting to have that evidence independently examined.
Growing up, all I really knew was that nobody talked about my Nana’s great-grandfather. I wasn’t told that my third-great-grandfather, Michael Flynn, had been hanged while maintaining his innocence, or that my third-great-uncle, Thomas Higgins, had been hanged in the same case. That part of our family story simply wasn’t talked about.
And I can understand why.
Our family lost a father and an uncle who had been convicted of murdering an old man and a young boy. That wasn’t something a family carried with pride. That kind of history leaves something behind, even when nobody talks about it.
But the questions surrounding this case aren’t only being asked 143 years later.
The historical record shows that concerns about these trials, the juries and the administration of justice were being raised during that period, including in Parliament. I came to this case through the evidence that survives today. The fact that questions were also being raised then only reinforces why I believe that evidence deserves an independent examination now.
And there’s something else I keep thinking about.
Back then, the final say belonged to the Crown.
But this is 2026. The Irish government has the last say now. Think about that.
The Irish government has revisited historical convictions before. Poff and Barrett, who were convicted in 1882 and executed in 1883, were granted posthumous Presidential pardons in 2024 after an independent expert examination concluded that their convictions were unsafe.
And I didn’t even ask the Irish government to pardon these men.
I asked for an independent review of the surviving evidence.
That request was denied under the new approach adopted in March 2026, which excludes convictions imposed before the foundation of the State in 1922 from consideration for Presidential pardons going forward.
So the Irish government doesn’t need to open a door that has never been opened.
It needs to reopen a door it chose to close.
It can continue to use 1922 as the cutoff.
Or it can independently examine the evidence and let the evidence speak for itself.
I can’t give Michael Flynn, Thomas Higgins or Patrick Higgins their lives back. I can’t undo what happened to them. But I can make sure their evidence isn’t forgotten.
And I can carry my third-great-grandfather Michael Flynn’s dying declaration of innocence forward and make sure Ireland is listening now.
For me, this isn’t just about healing. It’s about truth. It’s about restoring the dignity that was taken from them, and from all of us.
History can hurt families for generations. I believe history can heal them too.
And now, 143 years later, it looks like the Lough Mask case may be heading back into an Irish newspaper.
History handed Ireland this question. What the Irish government does with it belongs to the present.
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Historical photographs: National Library of Ireland, Invincibles Album, ALB40, “Lough Mask Murders, 1882.”
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