5th Anniversary

The 6^th April 2010 marks the 5^th anniversary of the murder of my sister Irene White (nee Mc Bride). On the day Irene was murdered I received a telephone call from Irene’s solicitor asking, “Why have they not arrested him yet?”

However, two people were arrested in 2006, one being Irene’s ex-husband and the other some business partner or other of Alan Whites.

Irene had left crucial information with many people about the threat to her life. Irene had visited the Garda station in Dundalk over twelve times confirming that her life was threatened. Irene had two protection orders in place, and a barring order came into force in February 2005, just weeks before Irene was murdered.

However, even though I am led to believe that there were and still are crucial statements in place;  Irene was murdered in her own home in broad daylight on 6^th April 2005, a Wednesday morning, after Irene returned from taking her three children to school.

The act of Irene’s murder was particularly brutal. Irene’s murder is still recognised today as the most savage murder against a female in Ireland’s history. One of the cruelest paths the conspirators took in the execution of Irene’s murder was to knowingly allow my elderly mother to walk into the Ice House kitchen.

There she found her beloved daughter Irene’s body, in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. My mother lived in turmoil after this event, for the next six months until her death on 22^nd October 2005, Irene’s birthday.

I have led and taken part in a very strong pro-active campaign since my sister’s murder. Irene was so scared and frightened, that she left the family home to take refuge with Women’s Aid in Dundalk. I spoke to Women’s Aid in Dundalk back in 2005, and this has been confirmed to me Irene left statements with Women’s Aid, regarding the home life.

I would still ask that if there is anyone who may still have crucial information to come forward. There are several options open to you; you can leave a message on this website, you can contact my solicitor in Dundalk, Frank Mc Donnell at Ahern and Mc Donnell, and of course the Garda Siochana in Ireland in any one of their station throughout the country are prepared to listen.

There is of course my hope that I will get justice for Irene and my mother. I was asked by Detectives “to give us our day”. I asked how long they would need “five Years” was the response. We are just about at that stage now. I do not want to end up like our French colleagues. They are still waiting over twelve years and still no Justice, after so many mistakes were made relating to the murder of Sophie Tuscan Du Plantier, and the investigations that took place, by the Irish Garda.

There has to be a better way of dealing with Irene’s case, when so many of Irene’s friends knew the fear that Irene lived under prior to her murder. But still that very person who sat in Irene’s home and told her, as has been published in the Irish Press that “I will get you, you will not know the hour of the day, but I will have an alibi”, wanders freely among you, along with others who conspired against Irene. I have copies of Irene’s diaries and when I take them out to read in her own handwriting about her existence with her young family; and the quality of Irene’s life, with those spineless conspirators who have necessitated its keeping, I hope that Justice will prevail, for my family.

Fear is a catastrophic, destructive element. To feel its wrath and to tell people that you knew you are going to be killed. It makes me wonder why Irene was not listened to. In the numerous times Irene went up to the Garda station, a station that is within walking distance from Irene’s home.

Changes have got to be made in the way that murder of women in Ireland is dealt with. Only then will statistics, on the number of female homicides that are kept by Women’s Aid have a chance of being reduced and gone for good and women will again find the home a safe place to be.

I would like to thank the Irish Press for their continued support relating to Irene’s murder, and the Irish media. They have kept Irene very much in the public domain.

If the Irish Judicial system can uphold the law, then show me Justice for Irene and my mother. It is a simple request I hope that it can be honoured.